18 March 2015
On the 7th day of Parliament, Raja Bahrain, MP for Kuala Terengganu, and I decided to take on the Prevention of Terrorism Bill 2015. We started off by urging the government to reveal the text of the Bill to all MPs so that consultation with experts and preparation for debate could take place.
See this link for more on this press conference:
26 March 2015
Day 12 in Parliament. There is still no Prevention of Terrorism bill yet on our table. How are we supposed to debate the matter next week? Parliament is totally dysfunctional under BN. There are very limited select committees. There is no committee stage on bills. There are no opposition days. According to YB Surendran, Malaysian Parliamentary rules and standards are worst than Zimbabwe and Nigeria.
30 March 2015
Finally the text of the Bill was released to us and Raja Bahrain and I did another press conference on the issue. The POTA allows for detention without trial for an indefinite period. We have a week before the debate.
6 April 2015
Am in Parliament early to deliver our notice to the Speaker to propose amendments to POTA. I had a chat with 2 UMNO MPs, both were subdued. We expect a minute of silence for Rompin. Rompin’s seat is still there with documents for the day.
Today is a dark day; the POTA debate day. Pakatan Rakyat MPs are putting up a fight. BN MPs are pretending that POTA is not ISA. They point out one or two minor differences in procedure and then argued therefore that POTA is not ISA.
The core issue is ISA is about detention without trial and POTA has detention without trial. So POTA = ISA. But try explaining that to the thick skulls of UMNO BN MPs.
In a surreal moment Noh Omar asked Surendran to explain what is detention without trial. After Surendran explained what detention without trial is, Noh Omar kept quiet. After Surendran finished his speech, Noh Omar started his speech to defend POTA. Only 5 minutes earlier he didn’t know what detention without trial was. God save Malaysia!
It is 11.30 pm now. Pakatan MPs are still in Parliament fighting to stop POTA. We cannot defeat them in terms of number of votes but we are now pointing out all the serious flaws in the bill. So much so, that not one minister says a peep. It is clear that we have dissected the bill and some level of shame must be felt by the senior UMNO BN MPs.
If UMNO BN wants to bring back the ISA, they have to wait till past midnight for it. Lawan tetap lawan.
7 April 2015
MCA and Gerakan ministers finally turned up. I suspect on orders of UMNO. YB Ong Kian Ming asked them to state their stand on whether they support ISA 2.0. Gerakan Simpang Renggam MP tried to explain Gerakan’s position but sat down after receiving loud jeers.
It’s 1.50 am. We are still in Parliament. Segambut Lim Lip Eng is now attacking the last 6 clauses of the POTA bill. Most MPs are tired. Half an hour ago, Shahidan (Arau) as Minister in charge of Parliament bought a big box of nasi lemak to feed everyone. It looks like the bill will go past the 2 am mark. The minister Zahid Hamidi is being worn out by Pakatan MPs. If he wants to bring back ISA, he has to suffer for it.
[The Bill was eventually passed in the Dewan Rakyat at approximately 2.30 am]