NSC Act to combat terrorism or terrify Opposition?
The fear is that the NSC Act will be misused to silence and intimidate activists, Opposition politicians and dissenting members of the general public.
By Raja Bahrin Shah
As reported in the media today, Prime Minister Najib Razak defended his National Security Council (NSC) Act, passed in Parliament recently, purportedly to combat terrorism. The general public as well as Opposition Parliamentarians have no issues on the need to counter the terrorism threat. What we generally fear is that the NSC Act will be misused for other purposes especially to silence and intimidate activists, Opposition politicians and dissenting members of the general public. Such similar Acts have been misused before.
The present laws in existence together with the new Sosma, Pota and Sedition Act are more than adequate to cope with the threats we have faced in the past and are facing in the present. However we are very concerned by the existing abuse of the present set of laws as it has been used against government Opposition members. As to the threats of the religious fanatics, we are disappointed the government has failed to adequately act on our various complaints on seditious and threatening statements issued by various parties. Among these complaints were statements on “halal darah” and “kafir harbi” by various quarters which could lead to serious consequences but which were not acted upon despite the complaints lodged. Why are the government and relevant authorities being selective on these issues? If these statements were to come from Opposition quarters, action would have been swift.
Our main fear is that the NSC Act will be misused against Opposition and dissenting voices. We are almost certain somehow and sometime in the near future, the Act will be abused in order keep the present government in power. We are almost certain it will eventually be used to silent government critics by detaining them.
What is most important and interesting was that the Conference of Malay Rulers in February 2016 asked the government to refine and review the NSC Act submitted to them. The Majlis Raja-Raja Melayu was not happy and was in fact worried about the NSC Act in its present form. However the government completely ignored this request and went ahead to gazette the Act as law unamended.
Malaysia is already besieged by various controversies and the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal had blown-up in a big way internationally. We fear for our country and for our future.
Is the NSC Act really to combat terrorism or is it to strike terror into the hearts and minds of the everyday citizen? The Conference of Malay Rulers have already made known their worry and concern. So should all of us. May God save our nation and us ordinary citizens.
Raja Bahrin Shah is MP for Kuala Terengganu.
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