When then Prime Minister DS Najib abolished the ISA or Internal Security Act in 2011, Tun Dr Mahathir was amongst those that had criticised the move, which he had said that was to appease government detractors and foreign governments. In place of the abolished ISA, SOSMA or Security Offences Special Measures Act was enacted.
Election Promise
Now, upon returning to power, Tun Dr Mahathir himself wants to have SOSMA abolished, on the pretext that the law was misused by DSN's administration, when it was used to arrest Khairuddin Abu Hassan and Matthias Chang. But both were released by the Judiciary, as the PDRM was unable to prove that their actions were a threat to national security.
Reality of Today's Security Threat
With the recent arrest of several suspected militants in Malaysia and the recent shooting dead of 2 Kidnap-For-Ransom (KFR) spies in Sabah, it underscores the reality of today's security threat.
Children under SOSMA
Almost 1,000 individuals were arrested under SOSMA as at April 2017. Another detracting point on SOSMA is that 159 of these are children who were caught up in their parents' ideological zeal.
While it is unfortunate that these underage had been caught in these anti-militancy dragnet, one must be cognizant that militant ideology do not care how young are their recruits, nor they care much of collateral damage.
Case in point, the most recent Daish-inspired bombings in central Jakarta involved 6 people from a family, a husband-wife team with their 2 teenage sons and young daughters.
Different Government, Same Mistake
We hope that the government of Tun Mahathir reconsider their decision to abolish SOSMA. They are repeating the same mistakes made by DSN of abolishing SOSMA which resulted in hardened criminals being released to the streets. At the same time, the abolishment of ISA had then resulted in the release of several hardened terrorists which later were found to have helped Daish to recruit Malaysians into their rank.
Potential Misuse? How About The Controls?
We understand the concerns that SOSMA could be misused by an autocratic regime to stifle dissent, much like how ISA had been misused to ensure then autocratic government to remain in power. But the act itself had been built with measures to minimise the possibility of it being used against political dissent. The power to hold an individual under arrest is now in the hand of a council, no longer in the hands of the Home Minister as it was when ISA was implemented.
ISA vs SOSMA
ISA afforded the police force a detention period of up to 2 years without the need of establishing habeas corpus, and this is renewable upon review by Home Minister.
Whereas SOSMA only afford the police force 60 days of investigative period before the suspect must be charged in court. This led to some quarters calling for ISA to be brought back. Mind you, ISA here means the act, not Isa Samad.
Original Use
For the uninitiated and for younger Malaysians, ISA is short for Internal Security Act, an act created to handle threats posed by communist terrorists. When the threats from communism subsided, the government had kept the act, now targeting other threats, such as foreign espionage, treasons, and other militant groups. But most important of all, there were many controversial arrests, especially those arrested under Ops Lallang.
Working Control in SOSMA
Even if there are complaints that SOSMA had been misused to persecute political opponents, at least in the case of Khairuddin Abu Hassan and Matthias Chang, they managed to obtained their release from our judiciary. While those arrested under Ops Lallang could not even challenge their arrest under ISA. That means, the controls in place of SOSMA works. And you don't fix what is not broken, unless you're like a rat trying to fix a pumpkin.
No comments:
Post a Comment