KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) will not push the government to speed up the implementation of the two proposed new national security laws to replace the Internal Security Act (ISA), its chairman Tan Sri Hasmy Agam said.
In welcoming and thanking the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak for his move to abolish the ISA, Hasmy said it was pertinent for the government to ensure the new acts would protect and promote human rights.
He said there should be differences in provisions between the ISA and the new laws.
“We will give some space to the government as the process of implementing good legislation takes time,” he told a news conference here yesterday.
He stressed that government should incorporate several provisions in the new laws as proposed by Suhakam in 2003 such as the detention of person by the police should not exceed 24 hours, after which the person must be produced in court and if more time was required for investigations and there was an absolute need to detain the person for more than 24 hours, an order by a High Court Judge must be sought.
He also described Najib’s decision as a historic occasion and one that would allow Suhakam to move actively in its human rights advocacy activities. — Bernama