BUKIT MERTAJAM — PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today he agrees with the recent police action in detaining several individuals linked to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
However, he said the detentions should not have been made under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (SOSMA), which he deemed as harsh.
“We have been against this Act from the beginning, but if it is related to terrorism I support the police action; it is not limited to action against LTTE but all involved in terrorism. This is what people are saying about PKR (why PKR did not oppose use of SOSMA); any country would definitely act to check issues related to terrorism and we should leave it to the police to take action in handling this issue,” he told reporters after opening the Penang PKR Convention here, which was also attended by PKR secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and PKR state leadership council chairman Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik.
Anwar said this when asked to comment on the statements of several Pakatan Harapan leaders who have protested against the police’s use of SOSMA in the detention of 12 individuals, including two assemblymen, for allegedly promoting, supporting, instigating, encouraging, raising funds and possessing LTTE-related items.
Commenting further, Anwar, who is also Port Dickson MP, denied that some former PKR members were also arrested with regard to the case.
“I have not received any report on current or former PKR members being involved or arrested by the police’s Counter-Terrorism Division (E8),” he said.
In another development, Anwar, who is also the chairman of the parliamentary caucus on reform and governance, said he was of the opinion that Budget 2020 did not give much focus to the agriculture industry, considering it was one of the key industries for the country.
He said the agriculture industry also needed a special budget to grow as the country has resorted to importing RM52 billion worth of agricultural produce each year.
— BERNAMA
