“The National Security Council Bill 2015 (NSC) and the way it was bulldozed through Parliament is not only shocking and unacceptable but a sure-fire recipe for making Malaysia a police state and the foundation for a dictatorship” said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, responding on the sudden tabling and passing of the new NSC Bill in Parliament by the Lower House of Representatives.
The unwarranted NSC in granting sweeping powers to the Prime Minister will eventually kill off democracy and confirm Malaysia as a police state and open the floodgates for a dictatorship and failed statehood.
As the existing laws stand, there are more than ample powers to deal with any security threats, real or imaginary. There already exists the recently minted POTA and SOSMA as well as the well-thought out Article 150 of the Federal Constitution which grants the Yang DiPertua Agong the authority to declare an emergency to deal with any security threat, even before its actual occurrence.
Under Article 150, the Agong can proclaim an emergency if he is satisfied that a grave emergency exists whereby the security, or the economic life, or public order in the Federation or any part thereof is threatened. Such proclamation can even be issued before the actual occurrence of the event which threatens the security, or the economic life, or public order in the Federation or any part thereof.
In such an emergency as proclaimed, the Yang DiPertua Agong may even promulgate ordinances as if it is passed by Parliament, in such circumstances as appear to him to require.
The decisions of the Agong in relation to his satisfaction of the security threats is final and conclusive and not challengeable in any Court of Law. So are the proclamation itself and any ordinances promulgated that no Court shall have jurisdiction to determine their validity.
There is absolutely no justification for the NSC other than being a backdoor for the ruling Barisan Nasional federal government and its leaders to maintain and cling on to power and continue to rule the country when its loses at any election.
The other implication is its potential abuse against the growing Sabah and Sarawak rights movements in the Borneo States so as to maintain and control over Sabah and Sarawak as colonies of Malaya masquerading as the Federation of Malaysia.
The Malayan-led Federal government and its leaders need to appreciate and respect that Malaysia is a federation formed by Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore before the later left in 1965 and that Malaysia is not Tanah Melayu as made out to be by ultra and right wing Malays.
After suffering for 52 years as the adopted child and colony of the federal government, Sabahans and Sarawakians have awoken to the fact that Sabah and Sarawak did not join Malaysia but rather formed Malaysia with Malaya. And neither should no longer be their oil and wealth siphoned off to feed and finance the development and progress of Malaya at the expense of their own progress and development.
As Malaysia is a federation, the federal government should understand that unless the rights and autonomy of Sabah and Sarawak and their oil and gas resources are restored with equitable returns to both States and Petronas and the federal government, no amount of law, not even the NSC will suppress the rights movement in the Borneo States.
As for the MPs and all those who had a hand in the passing and eventual adoption of the NSC, they will regret and answer in eternity their unconscionable support of the NSC law when it is eventually abused. The MPs and those from Sabah and Sarawak will suffer the same fate when the rights and autonomy of their homelands are not restored due to the abuse of the NSC.
As for the federal government and its leaders, they would be much better off to spend time and effort to address the grievances of the people and the burden of the rising costs of living, many of which are caused by or attributed to poor government policies and bad governance, mismanagement and corruption as well as to make Malaysia a better place than to make it a failed State.
Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan
Chairman - STAR Sabah
05 December 2015
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