Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part letter by the author.
Read Part 2 here.
HOW CAN Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun hail Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as an “overlooked reformist” when several laws remain untouched on the statute books despite Muhyiddin being home minister for 22 months and prime minister for 17 months?
These laws include the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (SOSMA), the Sedition Act 1948 and the Prevention of Crimes Act (POCA) 1959.
At the launch of Abdul Mutalib Razak’s book, Muhyiddin Yassin: Leading a Nation in Unprecedented Crisis, on Friday (July 29), Azhar said he could speak from personal experience on this.
He said this was because one of Muhyiddin’s first initiatives as home minister during Pakatan Harapan’s (Pakatan) stint in power was to set up a committee to look into laws that were deemed “unsuitable”, such as the Sedition Act, SOSMA and POCA.
Azhar was a member of this committee and he said: “The committee met many times, going through every and each detail of the laws and listening to the relevant stakeholders.”
But all these were either wasted efforts or efforts for show, as there was no sincerity or commitment by Muhyiddin to abolish the draconian provisions in these laws, particularly with regard to detention without trial.
This point was hammered home last Tuesday (July 26) when the Dewan Rakyat extended the sunset clause in sub-section 4 (5) of SOSMA for another five years, with 111 MPs voting in favour, 88 against while 21 MPs were absent from the sitting.
Even the “overlooked reformer” came to vote for SOSMA’s extension. This raises the question: What type of a reformer is this?
What was the committee’s recommendation on the five-year extension of SOSMA? Can the speaker enlighten Malaysians?
“LTTE arrests: a security or political op?”
Muhyiddin’s position on SOSMA and the Sheraton Move conspiracy in February 2020 raises the question whether the detention of 12 persons, including two DAP state assemblymen, for alleged links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2019, was a security or political operation.
For more than two years, there had been no incident to justify the view of any existence of any LTTE network in the country, casting doubt on the veracity of the charges against the 12 persons in 2019.
This is why I had suggested last Wednesday (July 27) that the Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSSC) on Security, chaired by the PKR MP for Sungai Petani Datuk Johari Abdul, should investigate the detention of the 12 persons for alleged links with the LTTE, to establish whether it was a security or a political operation.
The PSSC should hold hearings to investigate into the matter because of the premier role played by the “overlooked reformer” Muhyiddin, who was then the home minister.
Investigations by the PSSC is imperative now that Parliament had voted to extend SOSMA for another five years; Parliament must ensure that there had been no abuse of power in previous usage of SOSMA.
The PSSC should also hold hearings to investigate the 2016 detention of the then Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0) chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah (now the PKR MP for Petaling Jaya).
It should also probe the detentions of that of activist Datuk Khairuddin Hassan and his lawyer Matthias Chang, for their attempts to expose the 1MDB financial scandal, as well as all former SOSMA detainees, to establish whether these SOSMA detentions were justified or were abuses of power.
The members of the PSSC on security are Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (Pasir Salak MP), Datuk Ramli Mohd Nor (Cameron Highlands), Datuk Rahim Bakri (Kudat), Datuk Wilson Ugak Anak Kumbong (Hulu Rajang), Syed Ibrahim Syed Nor (Ledang), Lim Lip Eng (Kepong) and Mohamad Sabu (Kota Raja). – July 31, 2022
Lim Kit Siang is the Iskandar Puteri MP, DAP supremo and a veteran lawmaker.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Main photo credit: Malay Mail
