OPPRESSIVE laws are a remnant of Malaysia’s “colonial past” and must be abolished by Pakatan Harapan if it’s committed to fulfilling its election manifesto, said the Malaysian Bar.

President of the Malaysian Bar George Varughese called upon the new government to “demonstrate full commitment” to abolish security laws with immediate effect.

“Our legislative landscape need not be a time capsule of our regressive colonial past,” he said at the opening of the legal year in Putrajaya today.

Present at the event were Chief Justice Richard Malanjum, Attorney-General Tommy Thomas, Court of Appeal president Ahmad Maarop, Chief Judge of Malaya Zaharah Ibrahim, Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak David Wong.

Laws that must go are the Sedition Act 1948, Prevention of Terrorism Act 2015 (Pota), Prevention of Crime Act 1959 (Poca), and the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma), Varughese said. 

“These laws ought to be repealed as existing laws are sufficient to address the threats of crime and terrorism. If found insufficient, the solution lies in amending existing non-draconian laws or enacting new laws that observe the rule of law.”

Varughese also criticised laws that passed without much deliberation by the previous government.

“We frequently saw the manner in which certain laws were rushed through Parliament without going through proper debate or even the opportunity for verifying and testing legislation for quality and resilience.

“The Anti-Fake News Act 2018 is an example of such legislation which is peppered with flaws and raises many questions regarding its content, intent, and impact. The government must never legislate in haste.”

Varughese said to prevent legislative exercises from being carried out in a “hurried” manner,  the Bar calls for Parliament to extend its sitting sessions to allow “more meaningful debate” in pursuit of important institutional and law reform work. 

Meanwhile, Varughese said the Bar has worked well with Thomas, who was appointed attorney-general shortly after the May 9 elections last year.

“(Not) only because he is more accessible, but because he has been generous with his input and open to a more meaningful engagement with the Bar,” he said.

Earlier Thomas said the Malaysian judicial system has not been immune from the “cancer of corruption” fostered by the previous government.

“What must be clear is that henceforth the new government will not tolerate any interference or obstruction of the administration of justice,” Thomas said.

“The full force of the law will be applied against wrongdoers. If the Malaysian legal system is to regain the lustre that it enjoyed during the halcyon days of Lord Presidents Mohd Suffian Hashim and Raja Azlan Shah and Justice Eusoffe Abdoolcader, the stream of justice must not be polluted.
 
“There is absolutely no doubt that one of the key factors leading to the defeat of the Najib Razak administration was the perception of the ordinary man in the street that the then prime minister and his close associates were above the law, notwithstanding the glaring injustices ‘inter alia’ occasioned by the 1MDB scandal.

“The double standards applied by law enforcers undermined public confidence in our legal institutions.” – January 11, 2019.