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Review of ‘restrictive’ laws: Expect changes next year

Posted: 01 Nov 2011 05:31 PM PDT

2011/11/02
By Farrah Naz Karim
farrah@nst.com.my

PUTRAJAYA: The Attorney-General's Chambers has put all laws deemed restrictive on Malaysians' fundamental rights under its microscope.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said he and his team were in the midst of reviewing not only laws that were unsuitable for current times but also those that curtailed basic human rights.

Saying that his review team was also looking at reviewing the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) 1971, Gani said it would not be impossible to expect the "changes" to materialise next year.

"We are looking at these law reviews but you cannot expect this to be done by next month. But we are getting there," he told the New Straits Times yesterday.

"These amendments are the (A-G's) chambers' proactive initiatives.

It is normal for us to carry out such reviews in the course of our duty to advise the government (on the need for law reviews)." It is understood that among the laws being looked at are the Police Act, the Multimedia and Communications Act, the Restrictive Residence Ordinance and Public Security Act.

Gani said while his office had begun the review of laws that curbed fundamental rights, he did not want to comment on Monday's Court of Appeal decision, which ruled that Section 15(5)(a) of the UUCA, which restricts students from expressing support or opposing any political party, as unconstitutional.

In the landmark 2-1 majority decision, the court held that the provision was unreasonable and violated the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech.

It allowed the appeal by four former Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia students — Muhammad Hilman Idham, Woon King Chai, Muhammad Ismail Aminuddin and Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha — after the High Court dismissed a suit by them to get a declaration that the section violated Article 10 of the Federal Constitution.

Short of giving an indication of the kind of changes to come, Gani said the spirit of the review could be reflected in the recent announcement of the abolition of the Internal Security Act 1960 (to be replaced with two new laws to safeguard peace and order) and repealing of the Banishment Act 1959.

In making the announcement in September, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had said that the government was reviewing other laws to be in line with current needs.

Najib had said that a comprehensive study would be carried out on the Restricted Residence Act 1993 and the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, where annual renewals would be done away with and replaced with issuance of a licence until it was revoked .

Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) commissioner Muhammad Sha'ani Abdullah said with the government liberalising contentious laws t h at curtailed human rights, Malaysia would be positioning itself on the right roadmap.

"This, in the end, will also improve transparency and stop abuse of the law," he said, adding that he hoped that the government would not appeal the de - cision on the UUCA.

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On track towards high income

Posted: 01 Nov 2011 10:16 AM PDT

2011/11/02
By Adeline Paul Raj
news@nst.com.my

Minister in the Prime Minster's Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala says Malaysia's economy is making good progress

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is on the right trajectory towards becoming a high-income nation by 2020.

This is based on what it has managed to achieve so far in the first year of its Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), said Datuk Seri Idris Jala, who is chief executive officer of Pemandu, the unit under the Prime Minister's Department that oversees ETP's implementation.

Some RM10 billion in investments under the ETP have been realised so far.

The amount constitutes 64 per cent of RM15 billion investments committed for this year, he said in an analyst-and-media briefing here yesterday that marked ETP's one year anniversary.

Projects are also "prog ressing well", with 70 out of the 131 entry point projects (EPPs) under ETP had taken off. "As some EPPs have multiple projects,we nowhave 97 projects which are in various stages of implementation." Malaysia made good progress, matching up to its targets this year for gross national income (GNI), private investments and jobs creation, which Idris described as "the most important numbers".

In the first half of this year, the country realised 58 per cent of its GNI target of RM494 billion, 62 per cent of its full-year target of RM83 billion for private investments, and about half of its jobs target of 684,000, Idris said.

As for foreign direct investments (FDI), they grew by 76 per cent compared with the first half of last year. The government also brought home more than 450 Malaysians working abroad under Talent Corp's Returning Expert Programme, he said.

"To me, we are okay and are on the right trajectory. We need to keep the momentum and stay focused.

This is not a sprint. No one in the government is declaring victory here," Idris said of the ETP's progress.

He believed that the European debt crisis would not lead to a global recession, but would slow down economic growth next year.

When asked what Malaysia could learn from Singapore in attracting FDI, Idris said the country needed to stay focused through the ETP's 12 key economic areas and stay competitive through its reform initiatives.

"We lost the plot over the last 10 years because we wanted to do everything under the sun. Let's not lose that focus, orwe'll end up becoming 'Mr Average'." On the goods and services tax, he said it would have to be implemented "sooner, rather than later", adding that 104 other countries were already using this as a way to boost revenue.

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Selasa, 1 November 2011

NST Online: Topnews

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