Pakatan to oppose preventive detention powers

Pakatan Rakyat will oppose any amendment to the Crime Prevention Act 1959 that is brought before Parliament, said PKR vice-president N Surendran.

He told a press conference at the Parliament lobby this morning that the federal opposition coalition will not support any amendment to provide the police with preventive detention powers.
“This (move) shows that the without oppressive laws, the government is unable to curb crime rates,” he said.

The Act itself had remained unused for years because the government had relied on the Emergency Ordinance for preventive detention until it was abolished in December 2011.

But an increase in the crime rate has prompted the government to moot the use of preventive detention again.

Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said in Parliament earlier today that the rising crime rate can be arrested when the CPA is amended.
“With this amendment, we can solve the problem of crime,” Zahid told Parliament.

Zahid also confirmed that the amendment to CPA will include extending its scope to Sabah and Sarawak.

As the act was legislated in 1959, it was only formed for peninsula Malaysia and did not extend to Sabah and Sarawak.

The CPA allows for a maximum amount of 70 days detention, separated into three different stages, for a detainee before he or she faces trial.