Last month, the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) arrested five suspected terrorists, among them three foreigners including a former member of the Al Qaeda. They also arrested a woman and a man from Sabah who were involved in terrorist financing. Meanwhile, two months ago, the PDRM detained eight suspected terrorists in Perlis comprising seven foreigners and a Malaysian.
Their aim was to establish a learning centre promoting Salafi Jihadism in Southeast Asia. Last July, the PDRM also arrested another seven suspected terrorists including three Indonesians and a woman who were sending money regularly to Abu Gomez, a Malaysian terrorist in Syria.
According to PDRM, since February 2013 more than 400 suspected terrorists have been arrested including more than 40 women. Recently, the inspector-general of police Mohamad Fuzi Harun stated that a total of 45 foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) have been detained since early this year and most of them are ISIS-linked terrorists. The current pattern of terrorist activities in Malaysia is startling.
The influx of FTFs from various foreign countries is a matter of concern. These FTFs are from Europe, the US, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia and South East Asia.
In my opinion, Malaysia is becoming a conducive environment or an incubator for terrorist groups like Isis, Al Qaeda, the Abu Sayyaf Group, the Fetullah Terrorist Organisation, the Jammtul Mujahideen, the Lashkar-E-Taiba and other extremist groups who spread their ideology to influence Malaysians to declare war on their own nation. In addition, they also want to recruit locals based on their false religious teachings by declaring the Malaysian democratic system as “toghut”, that is, un-Islamic.
Further, the significant rise of women participation in terrorist activities - especially in financing matters – is evident because they pose less risk. Further, the terrorist groups view the contribution of women highly and they are considered an integral part of terrorist activities now.
The vigorous movement of terrorist groups within Malaysia indicates that they are no longer interested in parallel activities outside of Malaysia. Another serious indication is the rise in the detention of women and foreigners for terrorist-related offences here. Therefore, there is a very high possibility for terrorists to launch an attack in Malaysia by targeting public places and prominent people.
Unfortunately, there are now calls by NGOs and human right organisations in Malaysia to abolish security legislation like the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota)
When there is a conflict between individual rights and the rights of a nation and its people, which one is more important? Can we allow one person or a group of people to destroy this nation by killing innocent children and women in the name of religion or the ideology they subscribe to?
We must be foolish to believe that these hardcore terrorists who do not accept our belief system will not harm us in the future. We must recognise that these terrorists are a totally different breed of people. For them, their ideology is the way of their life. They are very difficult to reform. The classic example is Yazid Sufaat.
The real hypocrites
Under the Federal Constitution, Malaysians enjoy fundamental liberties like the liberty of the person, protection against retrospective criminal laws and repeated trials, equality and freedom of speech, assembly and association.
The question is whether these liberties can be a reason to undermine the peace and security of this nation.
I am a strong believer in the rule of law. The law must protect the people. The requirement of human rights is fundamental in any legal system. According to the World Justice Project's definition, the rule of law is encompassed with accountability, just laws, an open government and accessible and impartial dispute resolution.
But for the terrorists and their sympathisers, the rule of law is irrelevant to them. They are in a different belief system which utterly shelves the core aspects of universal human rights requirements. In contrast, these people are relying on fundamental rights which are enshrined in our Federal Constitution and UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights to defend their rights and also to seek protection.
They don’t believe in the democratic system by declaring the said system to be un-Islamic. But they rely on the very same system to seek protection and justice. They are hypocrites.
Therefore, the calls to repeal security legislations like Sosma, Pota and other security laws by the human right organisations in Malaysia need to be considered by the current government with great attention by looking into the consequences of repealing them.
The main reason to call to repeal these legislations is because of the way they were administered by the previous government. Those abuses can be remedied with a mechanism for check-and-balance which can be supervised by Parliament itself or by establishing a commission to oversee the entire process.
These legislations are the key factors to manage the terrorist threats in Malaysia apart from the de-radicalisation programme which is well appreciated by other security agencies in the world. Countries like the UK, France, Belgium, Germany and the US want to improve and tighten up their existing security laws to deter their nationals and foreigners from launching any attacks on their soil.
But in Malaysia, we moving towards the opposite direction on the said matter.
It’s important to have key tools like the aforementioned legislations which give authority to the security forces to monitor and detain suspected terrorists and sympathisers to prevent any attacks in Malaysia. They need to be stopped by all means and also to deter the influence FTFs on locals which otherwise will disharmonise this nation.
Independent body
In a nutshell, the essential powers which are provided by security legislation like Sosma and Pota are decisive for intelligence and security forces to operate without fear or favour. These agencies cannot and should not allow nor tolerate anyone posing a threat to our national security.
These laws are so important to safeguard the sovereignty of this nation. If any attacks happen in future, the intelligence and security agencies will be blamed first by the people including by those who are defending these terrorists.
The present government in their election manifesto had promised to abolish these security laws but that can be circumvented by closing the loopholes which allow these laws to be manipulated. Further, the laws should also be amended to give the necessary protection to the detainees held under them.
Further, the judges who are presiding over these type cases must be given a free hand to determine the welfare of these detainees without any interference or influence.
Moreover, an independent body needs to be established comprised of former judges, human rights lawyers, human rights campaigners, laypersons and former intelligence and security personnel to evaluate the conditions of these detainees.
Based on the report prepared by this body, the families of these detainees and public will know the actual conditions they are being held under. Further, the presiding judge can use this report as additional information on whether the detainees have been treated fairly by the security agencies.
Malaysia is in a new era. In this period, Malaysians should not experience any suppression or oppression by anyone or by any agency. That will not be tolerated. But the peace and security of this nation are paramount.
Therefore, the current government should weigh the need to maintain peace and security of this nation against the human right issues of potential terrorists. For instance, in the UK and in other European countries, many security legislation have been enacted recently and the people there are willing to sacrifice their liberty with limitations. They realise the importance of these laws to protect their freedom.
I am urging the present government not to abolished our existing security laws but rather make some improvements on them by consulting the relevant stakeholders. In my view, the law is not perfect but the people who are entrusted to safeguard and exercise these laws need to be transparent, accountable and of very high integrity to avoid them abusing their position and power.
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/450409
https://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/2018/11/19/security-laws-vital-against-terror-threats/
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