Kuala Lumpur launches anti-terrorism law that represses civil rights
Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews / Agencies) – Overnight Malaysia’s Parliament approved a controversial anti-terrorism law which, according to the government directives, is "necessary" to counter the threat of Islamic terrorism.
It reintroduces "indefinite" preventative detention without trial, a provision that the Prime Minister had repealed in 2012. However, an internal front to the country - activists, opposition and human rights groups - says the new law is "a huge step back in terms of human rights "and a blow to civil rights.
The law took effect a few hours after the announcement, with police reporting the arrest of 17 militant extremists who were planning attacks in the capital, Kuala Lumpur. According to the Interior Minister Zahid Hamidi those arrested include a boy of only 14; the group was ready to target police stations and army barracks, in search of weapons and ammunition.
Two of those arrested today had returned recently from Syria, where they had fought for some time among the ranks of opposition to President Bashar al-Assad.
The new norm allows a suspect to be detained for up to two years without trial, with multiple extensions of the detention without trial. Decisions relating to imprisonment are taken by a special anti-terrorism body and not by the ordinary courts. The body has the power to revoke passports, from both Malaysian and foreigner citizens, if there are suspicions of links to terrorism.
The directive has yet to be approved by the Senate, however, the transition appears only a formality since the Upper House is in the hands of the ruling party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO).
Critics say the norm is a new, huge blow, to freedoms and civil rights wanted by the government, in the aftermath of the partial failure at the polls in 2013. To strengthen its hegemony, the Umno - in power since 1957, but the center of scandals and allegations of corruption and abuse of power – has approved a series of rules judged as illiberal and contrary to basic rights.
Over the past two years dozens of government critics - including politicians, intellectuals, activists and journalists - have been indicted on charges of sedition or criticism of the regime.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), points out that the introduction of preventive detention without time limits "opens a Pandora's box" that will allow abuse and repression of political nature.
In contrast, the executive claims the rules are a necessary step up the fight against Islamic extremism.
As previously reported by AsiaNews, fundamentalist movements and local Muslim leaders have found inspiration in the exploits of Sunni fighters. Many support the fight for the creation of the Islamic Caliphate, which now reaches across Asia.
Extremist cells and recruiters already operate in Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world, as well as in neighbouring Malaysia. Many are known to be preparing attacks on pubs, discos and bars, "dreaming of the Islamic caliphate."
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