The practice of detention without trial will continue even with the repeal of the Internal Security Act 1960 (ISA) and other similar laws, said de facto law minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz.

Nazri said that the two new laws which would be introduced to replace the ISA would allow for detention without trial, stating that it was a crucial element in the fight against terrorism.

He said that the attorney-general will be consulting lawmakers, judges and other stakeholders locally and abroad, stressing that counter-terrorism was an international effort.

“Even for normal criminal offences, a person can be arrested without trial. We call it a 14-day remand, which is also a form of detention without trial,” he said when met at an open house function in Putrajaya organised by the law division of the Prime Minister’s Department.

Nazri said that detention under such circumstances does not presume guilt on the part of the detainee.

“People know that you have to detain a person in order to gather evidence,” he said.

However, he explained that the element that is being corrected was the duration of the detention period as an excessive detention period can be deemed as oppressive.

Safeguards installed

Extensions beyond the mandatory period will soon be at the discretion of the courts, said Nazri, stating that this was guaranteed in Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s address last Thursday.

“There’s no longer a policy of going to the home minister or any other minister to get their signature (for the detention orders). No more,” he said.

He stressed that the premier also promised that the new laws cannot be applied for political purposes.

“These are the safeguard that are installed in all these laws,” he said, adding that the AG would brief the cabinet about the two new laws tomorrow.

In a special televised announcement on the eve of Malaysia Day, Najib said that his administration would repeal the ISA, a much maligned law which have been arbitrarily used on numerous occasions to detain dissidents.

Najib also announced that three Emergency declarations would be lifted, which may affect a similar detention law in the form of the Emergency (Public Order and Prevention of Crime) Ordinance 1969.

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