By: Natalie Shobana Ambrose
theSun, Malaysia (pg 12) October 3, 2013
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/columns/onpointe
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet was Juliet's rebuttal in
the Shakespeare love story. Some may not agree but perhaps it matters not what
the name of something is, but its essence is of utmost importance.
When the Internal Security Act was repealed, many
applauded. Sceptics, however, knew such forward measures would be short lived
and they are right.
This week Parliament debated on the return of
preventive detention adding revisions to the Prevention of Crime Act to lower
the crime rate – so it seems. The problem is there is no surety that these laws
will not be open to abuse.
It may be easy to look at the amendments as curbing
crime but on the reverse, it can be used to impede civil society and civil
movements. What does that mean?
According to reports, one can be placed in detention
for up to two years (renewable) and without the right to legal representation
with a limited scope of appeal.
Let's take all that legal jargon and put it into a
real life simulation. Say the suspect in question is a proven thug who has a
criminal record. Such a law will put the suspect behind bars without trial for
up to two years. Now if the suspect is held for two years, there is a chance
the detention can be renewed.
Yay! Our streets are safer, but what if the suspect
has been rehabilitated, picked up because he "looks like a thug" but
not proven to be one any more? Or what if the suspect is a she and was at the
wrong place at the wrong time and was picked up because she refused to be
intimidated by the authorities?
If you're one for being hard on criminals, let's look
at this from another perspective.
What if the crime was a protest against corruption or
a civil society movement against environmental damage or a big bully stealing
your land to build a dam? Forget about kicking up a fuss because these
amendments can be broadly interpreted and someone you know may be held without
trial for years.
The PCA amendments cannot be looked at in isolation
either. The Penal Code is also being beefed up with the government proposing that
5-15 year prison terms be made mandatory for promoting a false national flag
and "vandalism", the definition of which includes the displaying of
banners or placards without permission, to carry a three-year prison term.
There also seems no way out of this as the proposal includes curtailing the
judges' powers to favour the minimum mandatory sentences.
So if some company decides to throw toxins into your
waterway and you've no other choice but to peacefully protest, think again.
But you might say, that's not going to happen because
we've got an oral assurance that such abuse will not happen. See, that's the
funny thing about gentlemen's agreements – not many of the people giving us
these assurances are gentlemen.
Even if they are, what will happen when they are no
more in power to give such assurances? The bottom line is that the law
supersedes as it should and this is the very reason why such amendments should
ring alarm bells because repealing the ISA and adding such amendments to the
PCA only begs the question "what is in a name?"
In exactly three weeks, Malaysia will deliver its
National Report at the Universal Periodical Review in Geneva. The public report
screams of another Shakespearean quote: "I was searching for a fool when I
found you".
Under section 3(103) titled General Elections, we tout
the use of indelible ink patting ourselves on the back for such big leaps of
election reforms while quietly omitting the fact that our indelible ink was
edible and we paid RM7.1 million on food dye instead of silver nitrate.
It's hard to read point 148 in the report which
highlights the government's commitment to "ensuring the promotion and
protection of all human rights in the country" – listing down the rights
of refugees and undocumented migrants when we out rightly rejected all attempts
to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All
Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
Sadly, the report is far from a true reflection of the
state of our country, yet exercises like these highlight our shortcomings and
may be a catalyst for some change, at the very least we know the world is
watching, even if it's just for one part of an afternoon in cold beautiful
Geneva.
Natalie's fridge is peppered with
Shakespeare insults and one that resonates through and through is "My
tongue will tell the anger of my heart" – in this case, her pen will do
the talking.
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