KUALA LUMPUR: Detention without trial has worsened terrorism in some countries, said the Bar Council, as Malaysian authorities get ready to implement a new controversial anti-terror law next month.

President of the Malaysian Bar Steven Thiru said the experience in other countries which used such laws found that more people became radicalised each time they imprisoned someone without proving his guilt in court.

The Bar was told this by the drafters of anti-terror laws in other countries who have since abandoned the use of detention without trial to fight terrorism.

Detention without trial is a feature of the new Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) which is expected to come into force next month.

Although Thiru did not name these countries, it is learnt that they included mature democracies in Western Europe who have an extensive history of fighting terrorism and militancy. “Terrorism is hard to fight and they know that there is no sure-fire way to defeat it. But what they also say is that detention without trial is not the answer,” Thiru told a Bar Council forum in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

Critics of the law said it was similar to the defunct Internal Security Act (ISA), and that Pota did not allow detainees to question or review the reasons they were imprisoned.

Although the United States has its notorious Patriot Act, Thiru said the law could not be used against the country’s citizens but on enemy combatants captured on foreign soil.

However, Thiru’s points were disputed by the forum’s second speaker, lawyer Muhammad Faisal Moideen, who supported preventive laws such as Pota due to the unique nature of terror crimes.

Muhammad Faisal also said a provision in Pota did allow for the High Court to review the two-year detention order proposed by the Pota board, the body which decides whether individuals go to prison. “Pota also specifies that no one shall be detained for their political activities. So we should not assume that our experiences with the ISA will recur under Pota.

“At the end of the day, we must decide whether the liberty of one individual is worth more than the security of a whole society.”

The Bar will go on a nationwide tour to campaign against Pota and have so far planned forums in Kota Baru, Melaka and Johor Baru next month. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on May 18, 2015.