KUALA LUMPUR: Suspended Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang has been reduced to wondering whether “God-fearing” Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Paul Low will prevail on Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to withhold presentation of the National Security Council (NSC) Bill to the Agong for the head of state’s Assent until Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Shahidan Kassim’s promise to Parliament to improve the Bill’s “shortcomings” was honoured.
“This is the most iniquitous, pernicious and monstrous piece of legislation ever presented by the Najib premiership. Low is a member of the Cabinet,” said Lim who is also DAP Parliamentary Leader. “Low should join the majority of Malaysians in deploring the NSC Bill, not defend it.”
After the NSC Bill was rushed through Dewan Rakyat on December 3 “like a thief at night”, without proper prior notice or consultation with Members of Parliament or civil society, Lim recalled that Low assured that critics and opposition politicians should not worry about potential abuse of power by the NSC bill when it became law. “It was created specifically for security issues, he said, citing the Lahad Datuk incursion in Sabah in 2013.”
“Low said that the new powers under the NSC Bill will not be used against government detractors and politicians, and that criticism against the Bill was because of the trust deficit that Putrajaya faced.”
Low further said, reminded Lim, that the law would only be used for acts of terror but added that the government had to work on addressing the people’s trust deficit.
Unfortunately, said Lim, the Dewan Rakyat’s, Dewan Negara’s, and Low’s understanding of the rationale for the NSC Bill was not reflected in the speeches of Shahidan, another one of the 10 Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department, responsible for shepherding the Bill through Parliament.
Again, said Lim, “God-fearing” Low should explain why the wide powers asked by the Executive in the NSC Bill were not placed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), and the proposed National Security Council parked under POTA, if terrorism, whether of the Lahad Datu variety or the new terrorist threats emanating from ISIS, was the real target of the NSC Bill.
It is clear that Umno/Barisan Nasional (BN) Ministers and leaders have a bifurcated understanding of the NSC Bill, lamented Lim. “One group like the God-fearing Low believes that it was designed solely to fight the threat of terrorism.”
“Another group like the Wanita Umno leader, Sharizat Abdul Jalil, believes the Bill had larger objectives, even to nab those out to ‘topple’ Najib as Prime Minister, whether by democratic and constitutional means or otherwise.”
Lim was commenting on Low speaking on Friday at the Christmas high-tea reception organised by the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM), which the Prime Minister skipped. “If we have the fear of God, actually there’s no need for me to be in the government,” Lim quoted Low as saying. “If we have this fear, Low said ‘we will be concerned about justice, good governance, integrity, the environment, and fairness. We will not abuse the power that is entrusted to us ourselves as leaders’.”
Deferring the very intriguing issue raised by Low on whether one should be in a Cabinet which is God-fearing or otherwise, the most pressing issue facing the country is one of the unfinished businesses of the year 2015, said Lim. “Shahidan had promised the Senate that the government would ‘consider and scrutinise in detail’ the weakness, flaws and dangers of the NSC Bill raised by Members of Parliament to ‘improve the Bill’.”
The NSC Bill, charged the DAP veteran, violates the two Rukunegara principles viz. the Supremacy of the Constitution and the Rule of Law in Malaysia. ” Why the rush to get the NSC Bill through Parliament when the Lahad Datu intrusion was three years ago.”