Sosma amendments legalises phone-tapping, violates privacy, says DAP

An amendment to legalise phone-tapping under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma), which was passed by the Dewan Rakyat today, is an invasion of privacy and violates the rights of citizens, said DAP's Steven Sim Chee Keong.

The Bukit Mertajam MP said the provision in the amendments gave the government powers to, among others, intercept, detain, and listen to any communication.

"In other words it legitimises phone-tapping by the government," he said in a statement today.

He said there were at least five identifiable problems with this "phone-tapping" provision.

"Firstly, it is obvious that the authority is infringing the privacy of citizens in the name of threats and this goes against Article 5 of the Federal Constitution which guarantees right to life and personal liberty," he said.

Sim said secondly, interception of communication on the reason that the public prosecutor “considers it likely to contain any information relating to the commission of a security offence” was vague.

The amendment also allowed a police officer of the rank of Superintendent and above to intercept information without first getting the consent of the public prosecutor in “urgent and sudden cases”.

"Its vague and broad grounds for executing interception are open to abuse, especially against political dissent," he said, adding that was potentially Barisan Nasional’s Watergate in the making.

Thirdly, he said the amendment provided no guidelines on interception.

"This means the government can bug any private communication using any method and there is no timeframe to stop such invasion of privacy," said Sim, who is also DAP Youth national political education director.

Sim said the fourth setback in the amendment was that telecommunication companies and internet service providers were compelled to cooperate in the act of interception.

He said the final drawback in the changes to the law was that it exempted the police or any person from answering questions regarding the interception including its methods.

"This will jeopardise the interests of the accused who is not able to challenge the authenticity of the evidence obtained through interception," he said.

Sim said modern crime should be fought with modern policing, not by turning Malaysia into a police state where the government has a free hand of surveillance into private lives of citizens. - October 24, 2013.