08-16-2021, 09:17 AM
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KUALA LUMPUR – The National Security Council Act 2017 (NSCA) violates fundamental liberties and the federal constitution, said the minority judges who presided over opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s challenge against the constitutionality of the legislation.
Before coming to such a conclusion, Federal Court judges Datuk Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal and Datuk Vernon Ong first determined if NSCA is indeed a security law.
They pointed towards Section 18 of the Act – which allows the Agong to declare a particular place as a security area – which they find strikingly similar to the emergency proclamation provision under Article 150(1) of the federal constitution.
They are also concerned about the “special powers” of the National Security Council within security areas that allows controlling movement, taking possession of property, as well as wide powers of arrest, search and seizure.
“In the light of the foregoing, it is clear that NSCA is a security law containing sweeping powers that restrict fundamental liberties,” read the minority judgment.
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