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SOSMA and Terrorism - Need to rewrite again



On 27/05/2013, Yazid Sufaat and Muhammad Hilmi Hasim were rearrested for terrorism under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (SOSMA) 2012. They were arrested under section 130K (a) of the Penal Code, which falls under SOSMA, for harbouring terrorists for terrorist activities.
On 20/5/2013, Yazid Sufaat, the man named in 9/11 Commission Report who is detained with another two suspects are acquitted by High Court of Kuala Lumpur. The High Court threw out the initial charges against Yazid, Muhammad Hilmi and Halimah, after allowing their applications to strike out the charges for “inciting unrest” in Syria.

When handing down the judgment, Justice Kamardin Hashim said the court was satisfied that there was merit in the submission by the defence pertaining to the charges and the application of SOSMA, which was enacted under Article 149 of the Federal Constitution.  In his judgment, Kamardin said Article 149 was only applicable for acts of threats in Malaysia. He released them because they are not threat to Malaysia and citied that their activities only inciting unrest in Syria.

In my opinion it is a narrow interpretation of the Article 149 and section 130G (a) of SOSMA because they provoking terrorist activities against an independent nation using Malaysia as the base. This intricately allows other countries labeling Malaysia as the country that harbourning terrorism. The implications of such labeling have huge impact on economic and political mileages of Malaysia internationally. It’s had a detrimental means on national security further because the history had proven in USA and UK that allowing a known terrorist freely has the explicit implication on peace and security. The latest terrorist attack in London had proven on this view.

Yazid previously detained by the Malaysian authority shortly after the September 11th World Trade Centre attacks in USA under Internal Security Act which was repealed in 2012. Later he was released by authorities from detention in Kamunting when they convinced that he was fully rehabilitated. Unfortunately, in February he and two others were detained on the suspicious that they may involve with terrorist related activities. Yazid was charged under section 130G (a) of the Penal Code while the others were charged under section 109 of SOSMA.

He has been suspected as the main recruiter because two Malaysians who had been detained in Lebanon early this year are closely associated with him. Apart from that in December 2012, a Malaysian named as Mohd Noor Fikrie Abd Kahar, 26, shot dead by Philippine police at a hotel after a scuffle with police who wanted to inspect a sling bag carried by his wife containing a homemade bomb also closely related to Yazid according to Phillipines authorities.

Now they are rearrested by the authority. The hardcore terrorists are always dangerous to the society and nation. Even though they seem to be reluctant to launch any attacks here in Malaysia but the possibility for such attack launch in Malaysia is imminent.

With recent attacks that had happened in Boston, Moscow and London, the legitimacy of the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) to rearrest the know terrorists is justifiable. The pattern of the terrorist attacked in those cities is very similar. By radicalizing the young minds to turn against their own nation is the method used by terrorist group like Al Qaeda and its affiliated group like Jemmah Islamiyah.  The London and Boston attacks further proved on this notion.

Further there are some Malaysian terrorists named under the Security Council resolution i.e. The Consolidated List established and maintained by the 1267 Committee with respect to Al-Qaida, Usama bin Laden, and the Taliban and other individuals, groups, undertakings and entities associated. They are Wan Min Wan Mat, Yazid Sufaat, Amran Mansor, Abdul Manaf Kasmuri, Zulkepli Bin Marzuki and Zulkifli Abdul Hir as regarded as the potential terrorists. The authority is able to detain again Yazid but others fate is unknown.

Until now, all their terrorist activities are done outside of Malaysia. In future there are possibilities that they can turn against this nation. That’s the biggest security challenge face by Malaysia authority now.

Under SOSMA, the arbitrary powers to detain an individual indefinitely and without charge are no longer available. To fight against global terrorism such gaps will give great advantage for terrorists. Therefore, the law must provide the necessary platform to the authority to detain a known terrorist who becomes threat to the national security even though some human rights activists may disagreed with me.

Again, national security is paramount. National sovereignty with peace and security are the important pillars of an independent nation. Therefore the intelligence and enforcement agencies in Malaysia must be vigilant and take serious measures to contain any threats from these terrorists because a hardcore terrorist cannot be rehabilitated.

In nutshell, a terrorist is a terrorist always.

Kuala Lumpur.

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