Human rights group Suaram has condemned Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s statement that the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) and the Prevention of Crime Act 1959 (Poca) will be retained albeit with some amendments.
It said Pakatan Harapan is backtracking on its promises by retaining these laws using the same justifications put forward by the previous BN-led administration.
Harapan should therefore simply admit that they are no different from BN if they refuse to abolish the two laws.
“Civil society's demand on this is simple. Abolish Sosma and Poca. Give detainees an opportunity to defend themselves fairly in court in line with the established principle of the right to a fair trial.
“Failing which, Pakatan Harapan should drop the charade and acknowledge that they are no different from BN,” said Suaram executive director Sevan Doraisamy (above) in a statement today.
He was responding to Muhyiddin’s speech at the Bersatu general assembly speech on Sunday when he was reported to have said the two laws would be retained with some amendments.
“If the current laws are not maintained, there will be those who think they are free to do anything and threaten the country with gangsterism and terrorism,” Free Malaysia Today quoted him as saying.
The Malaysian Insight, meanwhile, quoted the home minister as saying that Sosma is needed to ensure Malaysia’s stability and to deter threats to national security.
Sevan said claims that Sosma and Poca would ensure safety and security are “deceitful at best”.
“The minister is merely making the same superfluous claim as the BN administration in his attempt to justify the need or existence of a parallel ‘justice’ system under Sosma and Poca where fundamental rights protected by the Federal Constitution and fair trial principles are dismissed and ignored.
“Ambiguous and arbitrary claims that these laws are effective in combating national security threats without establishing how they do so and how the Criminal Procedure Code and Penal Code fail to do so are irresponsible and malicious,” he said.
Pledged to abolish
He added that Suaram and other NGOs had also submitted a memorandum to Muhyiddin regarding Sosma and Poca and the home minister had supposedly promised to engage with civil societies on the matter.
This purportedly includes establishing a working group with civil society to review the laws while a moratorium is put in place.
“Since then, both commitments have had no further feedback and communication from the ministry,” said Sevan.
In its election manifesto, Pakatan Harapan had pledged to abolish Poca along with several other laws including the Sedition Act 1948, the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 and the National Security Council Act 2016.
It has also promised to abolish “draconian provisions” in Sosma, the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 and the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2015. - Mkini
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