YOURSAY | ‘He had three opportunities to remove LTTE as a militant group and terrorist threat.’
Steven Ong: Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh ruled that Gadek assemblyperson G Saminathan’s bail application was dismissed because the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is still listed as a militant organisation in the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (AMLATFPUAA) gazette.
The judge also said that the only way LTTE can be removed from the gazette is through the home minister, who is duty-bound under the law to conduct a review every six months.
Did the home minister fail, refuse, or simply too lazy to remove LTTE from the gazetted terrorist groups’ list? Many countries have removed LTTE as a terrorist threat but it is still not done yet in Malaysia.
Kita Anak Malaysia: The Pakatan Harapan government has been in power for 20 months now.
If the home minister is duty-bound to review the gazette every six months, this means he had three opportunities to remove LTTE as a militant group and terrorist threat. And yet he has failed to do it.
ACR: Once again, the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) has set out on this embarrassing trajectory where it chose to charge the accused under Section 130J of the Penal Code, which is a non-bailable offence as provided under the First Schedule of the Criminal Procedure Code.
I consider it embarrassing because the rest of the world has forgotten about the defunct LTTE and removed it from terror lists, except Malaysia.
And it has been pointed out in court that the home minister had several chances to set matters right, but did not do it. What is the next low for the Harapan government?
RR: The AGC as the legal adviser to the government should advise Muhyiddin, who appears ignorant of the defunct status of LTTE, to remove the organisation’s name from the outdated government gazette.
The judge has rightly pointed this out while delivering his judgment.
Fair Malaysian: Saminathan’s lawyer Ramkarpal Singh is doing a good job but at the end of the day, he is simply chasing shadows.
The judge made the right decision and had taken the trouble to explain why he rejected the bail application.
In fact, even the police cannot be faulted. The problem lies with the home minister and the Home Ministry. Muhyiddin Yassin has been the home minister since Harapan took over Putrajaya in May 2018.
Since then, the Harapan government has been unable to honour its pre-election promise of reviewing the Security Offences Special Measures Act 2012 (Sosma) and has been giving feeble excuses.
When DAP can insist that it will even consider leaving the Harapan government if the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) is not implemented, then why was such a stand not taken for Sosma?
When BN was governing the country, we often chided the MCA and MIC for not making a stand on important issues and we chucked them out.
It now appears that DAP, PKR and Amanah cannot be relied upon to influence action in important national issues like Sosma. Where is the pride in saying that PKR now has more Indian members than MIC when nothing is being done to help the Indian community while in power?
To this day, the grappling is still regarding the bail applications for the 12 accused in the LTTE case.
With what we now know about Sosma and how LTTE could have been easily taken out from the gazette list, the case is now viewed differently.
We have now come to a full circle. We made a choice to elect the Harapan government and today, it appears that we are encountering politicians who displayed different traits before GE14 and now.
Manoharan Malayalam: Section 13 of the Sosma Act was declared unconstitutional by a High Court judge recently but bail application for an alleged offence charged under the same act was denied by another High Court judge.
This is akin to the saying by doctors: “The operation is successful but the patient died.”
Orang Asal: Indeed, if the enabling law that prevented bail has been declared null and void, Saminathan’s request must be considered as just another bail application. The gazette issue is irrelevant.
Anonymous 7180953: A bail is denied if an accused is deemed a threat to society or is a risk of flight. These should be the only two reasons to be taken into consideration.
Since Saminathan doesn’t fall into either category and has not been accused of a crime of violence, I don’t understand why his bail application was denied.
Bruclax: As Malaysians, we are undergoing a period of paranoia. Every action or inaction by various authorities is wrought with politics and interpreted as such.
In this episode involving Malaysians who appear to have sympathised with the LTTE, or have been accused thereof, has also been politicised. Are we so brain-numbed to link every episode into a racial one? Malaysians have to move out from this paranoia.
Klang MP Charles Santiago's frustration with the Harapan government is well-founded. Putrajaya's silence on why several pre-election promises have not been fulfilled is deafening.
The judge has outlined what the issues are and where the solution is. This has to be acted upon immediately.
This episode is an important one as it involves the removal of a draconian law. This promise which is vested in Harapan's election manifesto must be fulfilled.
Anonymous_f0124ca6: The court made a decision. Respect it please, but feel free to appeal against it.
The best way to fight an unjust law is to apply it strictly so that the injustice becomes apparent. Politicians should not lament decisions that go against their beliefs. They should work on correcting the injustice.
I can understand Santiago’s frustrations but he should not criticise the court. There are always wrong decisions that may get corrected on appeal sooner or later.
Complain if the judge is biased, racist, sexist, corrupt, or plainly incompetent. Otherwise, everyone who loses will complain about the decision.
Fair Malaysian: Santiago might be a good person but surely, he should know the half-hearted approach by Harapan in dealing with the Sosma law.
The judge was very clear - the problem is with the provisions of Sosma. The judge also pointed at the real stumbling block - the home minister. - Mkini
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