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While the Prime Minister is away, the mice come out to play…
Najib in July last year promised that the government would repeal the law and replace it with a ‘National Harmony Act’, but the government has since said it will not repeal the law any time soon.
Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has called for the sedition law to stay in force, while Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam indicated this morning that the cabinet would discuss the law in future.
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Malaysian Insider
The EO has failed, so why the call to revive it? asks opposition MP
Why revisit the Emergency Ordinance (EO) if it has failed?
This was the question posed by a DAP Member of Parliament who is questioning the rationale of reviving the preventive law.
Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo said Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is not making any sense in calling for the revival of the EO if his statement that “those who were detained under the EO had returned to their criminal ways after release”, is to be believed.
“Does he have evidence to prove this? If he has, why was no action taken against these criminals?” he asked.
The home minister, in calling for the revival of EO-like laws, had said that 90 per cent of the rise in crime was committed by former EO detainees.
“And how does his statement support the revival of the EO? If he is right, then clearly the EO has failed in its objective which is to rehabilitate detainees.”
The EO has failed, so why the call to revive it? asks opposition MP
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Tony Pua: Release the figures NOW! We think they don’t exist, that they are a ‘figment of your imagination’. The so-called study doesn’t exist.
Malaysiakini
DAP’s Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua has challenged Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to explain why former detainees under the now repealed Emergency Ordinance (EO) are still free if there is evidence against them, as he had claimed..
He was referring to Zahid’s promise yesterday to present the full findings of a recent study, which he said would justify the need to revive the EO or replace it with a similar law, during the next Parliament sitting in September.
The minister had claimed that the study had found that 90 percent of organised crimes in Selangor were masterminded by ex-EO detainees.
“If the study even exists, it actually doesn’t prove the need for the EO. On the contrary, it only proves the police force to be totally incompetent,” Pua said in a statement today.
“The question that needs to be asked, that if the police are indeed so certain of who committed 90 percent of these crimes, then why can’t they be charged in court and put in jail?”
Zahid asked to explain why ex-detainees not charged
See also Malaysian Insider article Show us crime statistics now, not September, Pua tells Home Minister
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Malaysia Chronicle
Monday, 08 July 2013 17:46
OUT-OF-CONTROL CRIME: Don’t lie to the public – Nurul, Kee Kwong slam Zahid
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Malaysia Chronicle
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Malaysiakini
MP SPEAKS How can the repeal of the Emergency Ordinance (EO) be deemed to be the cause of rising crime, when the official crime index was at its peak before the EO was repealed?
The repeal of the EO at the end of 2011 has been blamed by both the government and the Royal Malaysia Police as the sole cause of rising crime, particularly in the urban centres.
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Despite all the sound and fury, the police have yet to present a shred of evidence that the recent spate of crime is due to “hardened criminals” having been released from the Simpang Renggam detention centre.
In fact, if we study crime statistics over the past decade, these show that, during the years when the EO was in place, the incidence of crime had risen aggressively.
The Malaysian crime index rose rapidly from 2003 to 2008 (see chart). At its peak, the crime rate rose by 34 percent from 2004 to 2007. During this period, the EO was at the disposal of the police; yet, crime was seemingly unstoppable.
After the launch of the ‘Reducing Crime’ National Key Result Area (NKRA) in 2009, the official crime index according to the government had dropped significantly, from 209,417 cases in 2009 to 157,891 cases in 2011.
This was attributed in the government’s Transformation Plan to greater allocation of resources to patrolling and fighting street crimes.
The ‘achievement’, if true, was never ever attributed by the police to wider use of the EO to detain alleged criminals without trial.
‘Get this – crime index peaked before EO repeal’
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Malaysiakini
Contrary to the statements of the other cabinet ministers, Tourism Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz said today the cabinet had in fact agreed, last year itself, to repeal the Sedition Act.
“The Attorney-General’s Chambers is in the process of looking into it and engaging stakeholders before coming out with a new law,” Nazri told a press conference at the Parliament lobby.
He said he does not know why “any minister would go against” the announcement to repeal the act that was made by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak last year.
“It’s a public commitment made by the prime minister. I don’t why any minister would go against it,” Nazri said.
Cabinet agreed to repeal Sedition Act, says Nazri
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Malaysiakini
Internal Umno strife delaying Sedition Act repeal’
Differences of opinion on the Sedition Act among Umno leaders are preventing it from being repealed as promised by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said today.
While Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi says the act should stay, other cabinet members such as Tourism Minister Nazri Aziz and de facto law minister Nancy Shukri support its abolition, Nurul Izzah told a press conference at the Parliament lobby.
“Najib must therefore explain his real stand on the repealing of the Sedition Act,” she said.
“If he does not, the integrity and the credibility of his minority government will continued to be questioned by the people when promises made are not fulfilled,” she added.
‘Internal Umno strife delaying Sedition Act repeal’
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Malaysiakini
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“The prime minister is the leader of the country, he has the right to make suggestions,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby when asked if Najib had spoken ahead of the cabinet in announcing the intended repeal.
When informed that Najib had also announced last year that the National Harmony Act would replace the Sedition Act, Subramaniam said the prime minister should bring the matter to the cabinet’s attention again.
“He has to bring it back to the cabinet and state his suggestions,” he said.
Asked if the Act was being used to stifle political dissent, he replied: “We have allowed for a lot of political views and we will allow for that to continue, don’t worry.”
Repealing Sedition Act was PM’s suggestion, says Subra
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weehingthong 