Day: December 5, 2015

Petitioning the Dewan Negara to Summarily Reject the D.R. 38/2015 – Majlis Keselamatan Negara 2015 Bill

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Reject-National-Security-Bill-2015-petition

English Version

To the Yang di-Pertua Dewan Negara, and all members of the Senate,

We the undersigned, hereby request and petition, as concerned citizens of Malaysia, that the honourable senators reject the bill known as “D.R. 38/2015 – Majlis Keselamatan Negara 2015” on the grounds of it having a drastically negative impact on the democracy and peace of our nation.

The bill proposes that a National Security Council, headed by the prime minister, be established for the sake of national security. However, national security itself is not well defined, and most of the clauses within this bill are alarming to every Malaysian citizen.  Notably, we would like to bring to your attention four particular clauses. Read more →

We can still stop National Security Council Bill, says law expert

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Source: The Malaysian Insider

Constitutional law expert Dr Abdul Aziz Bari says the Yang di-Pertuan Agong can still decline to sign on the National Security Council Bill and provoke a crisis, thus delaying the implementation of the new law which gives greater powers to the prime minister. – The Malaysian Insider pic, December 5, 2015.

Calling the National Security Council (NSC) bill an affront to the Constitution, law expert Dr Abdul Aziz Bari said that Malaysians could still stop the council from becoming a reality even though the bill was passed in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday.

The Universiti Selangor (Unisel) lecturer said there were three lines of defence that opponents to the bill can count on to prevent Malaysia from falling into a dictatorship and becoming a police state.

“The first line of defence is the Senate. It may delay the bill for 12 months during which debates and activities to highlight the controversial provisions of the bill may be organised to enlighten the public,” Aziz told The Malaysian Insider last night.

However, he added that under Article 68 of the Constitution, the Dewan Negara had no power to throw away the bill, which he said gave extensive powers to the prime minister through the NSC, and thus, would impact the Constitution.

He said that once the bill was passed at the upper house, the next line of defence would be the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, as it would be presented to him for his assent under Article 66(5) of the Constitution.

While Article 66(4A) of the Federal Constitution states that a bill will become law after 30 days, even if the Agong does not assent to it, Aziz said this was arguable. Read more →