PETALING JAYA, JULY 8- Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and the IGP Khalid Abu Bakar should stop being cry babies about the police’s inability to detain someone without trial, said the DAP today.
Pua, the party’s publicity secretary and PJ Utara MP, said the two should take heed of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s call to find new ways to gather evidence rather than detaining someone without trial.
“When the Emergency Ordinance (EO) was repealed in 2011, Najib said technological improvements has rendered exile less than useful a deterrent to crime,” he said.
“Now both Zahid and Khalid are telling Malaysians that we need a return of the EO, or something similar to the EO with elements of detention without trial in order to arrest rising crime in the country.
“What both are saying is that after being pampered by the EO for the past 42 years, the police are completely unable to look for evidence to charge [criminals] in court,” the opposition MP said.
He said the Home Ministry appears to be fighting hard to reverse political reforms put in place by Najib, claiming that the rising rate of crime nationally was due to the lack of preventive laws.
Pua took Khalid to task for asking those who had criticised the police over its crime-busting capabilities to back the new law.
“Malaysians are telling Khalid and all supporters of the EO that criticising the police over its crime-busing capabilities is a call for them to improve their efficiency and professionalism.
“It is certainly not a call to provide the police with unreasonable powers to detain suspects without allowing those accused of a crime their day in court,” he added.
Zahid’s open defiance of Najib
The Home Minister recently announced that Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department, Paul Low and Nancy Shukri will lead the drafting of the replacement EO Bill.
“We call on ministers to strongly reject any attempts to insert vague clauses which allows the police discretionary powers to detain a person for any period of time without a fair trial.,” said Pua.
Meanwhile, in George Town, Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng said Najib should demand Zahid to support his stand to repeal the Sedition Act 1948. “Or else, Zahid should resign from the cabinet,” said Lim.
Lim claimed that Zahid’s refusal to support the abolition of the Sedition Act had openly defied Najib’s promise to repeal the sedition law and mocked Barisan Nasional’s election slogan, ‘Promises Fulfilled.’
“Such open defiance by Zahid is unacceptable,” said Lim, the Bagan MP.
He urged Najib to demand Zahid to toe the line, reverse his stand and support the abolition, or else quit his ministerial position.
Failing which, he said Najib should publicly explain reasons behind the broken promise to abolish the law and betrayal to voters.
