Prime Minister Najib Razak said he had personally proposed the matter to Indonesian President Joko Widodo during a meeting some time back.

“I suggested to Jokowi (Joko Widodo) that there should be laws similar to Malaysia (in Indonesia) so that we can prevent something before it happens.

“Prevention begins with legislation, police intelligence, and legislative actions must have a process that is determined by the court, so that there is no abuse of power,” he said in a special interview broadcast on I-News here tonight.

He said the presence of such laws were among the factors why Malaysia could prevent terrorist activities at an early stage, and there being no successful bomb attacks by terrorists in the country.

Najib said so far 140 people, believed to be involved with terrorist activities, have been arrested and charged under the law.

He said of those arrested, none had direct links with any terrorist networks, but they appeared to be influenced by terrorist activities in the Middle East.

Malaysia has a law called the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) which empowers authorities to detain any person suspected to be involved in terrorist activities.

-BERNAMA