Liberty must be defended
While we look at the state as our protector, the state turns assailant.
Aerie Rahman, MMO
This week, preventive detention powers have been resurrected by Parliament. The Preventive Crime Act (PCA) will allegedly be used to combat organised crime. The law was primarily spearheaded by Zahid Hamidi and backed by the Barisan Nasional government.
The PCA allows for detention without trial for up to two years which can be renewed. The caveat placed by the government is that a five-member board headed by a judge would be issuing the detention order.
The screws of oppression are being mercilessly tightened.
Seeing as how many dissenting politicians are no stranger to the Sedition Act, one can imagine what would happen if the PCA is applied to allegedly seditious acts.
At last, with Ops Cantas the government has recognised the crime wave that is paralysing Malaysia. The old trick in the bag was to dismiss our claims with the condescending statement that the high crime rate was merely perception – a figment of our imagination.
It took a few high profile shootings before the government acknowledged our crime concerns. As usual, no apology was registered by the government to signify that their perception argument was baseless and at best arrogant.
Nevertheless, the preventive detention measures proposed by the government would lead to more sorrows – in a country that is all too familiar with the long shadow of preventive detention.
Deterrence first, reforms never
Preventive detention powers are heavy handed, prone to abuse and mere wayang kulit (shadow play).
Paul Low claimed that preventive laws are designed to send a message of deterrence to criminals. The problem is before committing a crime, criminals like any human beings would do a cost-benefit analysis. They would evaluate the risk of getting caught, the costs and gains of committing a crime.
No matter how heavy the laws are, if the criminals have reason to believe that there is a high chance they won’t be caught – they would still go ahead with the crime.
Hence, the real issue is not about preventive detention. The court of public opinion must be oriented to demand the implementation of the recommendations of the IPCMC. Only when the police force has been reformed and resource allocation is optimised to the crime investigation department can we have a safer Malaysia.
We can have various laws detaining people in the most creative of ways. But if the competency and efficacy of the executioners of the laws are in doubt, the results would still be poor.
The government cannot deny that there is a trust deficit with the police force. It is excruciating to point at cases of suspects dying in lockups.
Read more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/aerie-rahman/article/liberty-must-be-defended
