BN senators dismiss anti-security bill campaigns, say must study it first

The National Security Council Bill 2015 has yet to be tabled in the Dewan Negara and campaigns against the bill are not gaining traction among senators. – Pic courtesy of Wikipedia, December 15, 2015.

The #TakNakDiktator campaign and a citizens' petition against the National Security Council (NSC) Bill 2015 do not appear to be getting traction with some Dewan Negara senators, especially those from Barisan Nasional, who say they need to study the proposed legislation first.

The controversial bill, which allows a council headed by the prime minister to declare a security area and conduct arrests, searches and seizures without a warrant, goes to the upper house of Parliament in the current sitting until December 22, where Dewan Negara approval will bring it one step closer to reality.

Umno Senator Datuk Khairuddin Abd Samad said while those against the bill had a right to voice their views, it was not fair if senators decided based only on arguments against the bill.

"The problem is we have not even discussed it. We haven't heard or had any discussion, the bill is not tabled and we have not been briefed on it.

"So how to oppose? They (petitioners) can give their views, we can understand and read only their side. Not yet on ours (the government's).

"So we need to study all this first," he told The Malaysian Insider at the Dewan Negara lobby yesterday.

Khairuddin also said a memorandum opposing the NSC bill by Parti Amanah Negara Youth handed over to PKR senator Siti Aishah Shaik Ismail yesterday reflected only the interests of a "few individuals and not the country".

"That is their opinion. If it is merely making assumptions, we cannot," he said, adding that whether the bill was passed or not could not be based on assumptions as it involved the nation's future and security.

Another Umno senator, Shahanim Mohd Yusoff said he was not against the NSC bill and disagreed with the #TakNakDiktaktor campaign and petition.

"I am not going to oppose the bill. There has not even been a briefing yet."

MCA senator Chia Song Cheng also said he was in favour of the NSC bill and would defend it for the wellbeing of the country.

"I support it as a member of Barisan Nasional (BN). I don't understand why there are those opposing it.

"If the opposition was in government, they, too, would support it."

Dewan Negara president Tan Sri Abu Zahar Ujang, however, declined to comment on the petition.

"They can oppose if they want. I don't want to comment," he told The Malaysian Insider as he hurried to his car yesterday.

The #TakNakDiktator campaign against the bill was started by rights and civil society groups, including Amnesty International Malaysia, Lawyers for Liberty, Suara Rakyat Malaysia and the National Human Rights Society.

More than 22,000 supporters have signed a petition at change.org urging the Dewan Negara to veto the NSC bill. There have also been individual efforts to write or email senators personally asking them to reject the bill.

Opposition parties, activists, the Malaysian Bar and even an international group, Human Rights Watch (HRW), have criticised the proposed law, which grants the prime minister "emergency-like powers" when such authority lay with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong as stipulated in the Federal Constitution, and fear it would be abused to repress human rights and democratic rule.

The #TakNakDiktator groups are expected to hand over a memorandum to the Dewan Negara to oppose the bill at Parliament at noon today.

DAP senator Ariffin S.M. Omar was the only one among those interviewed, who supported the petition, saying he felt the bill had been rushed through in the Dewan Rakyat.

"The existing laws are enough. There is already the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act, so why form this bill?

"To me, if a minister says it is important, it is only for one group. Only one individual's interest.

"If we look at the bill, it is as if the royalty have no powers at all. Absolute powers are in the hands of the prime minister and this is not in line with a democratic country."

Constitutional law expert Abdul Aziz Bari had said if the senate passes the NSC bill, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong could still refuse to give his assent.

Should the Agong decline to sign the bill, thus triggering a constitutional crisis, the matter could be taken to the Federal Court, Aziz said.

The bill was tabled in the Dewan Rakyat on December 1 and passed just two days later by a voice vote after some six hours of debate, with 107 MPs for it and 74 MPs against.

In closing the lower house's debate on the bill, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim had said the legislation was not aimed at declaring an area into an emergency zone, but merely as a security zone.

- TMI