The UN’s human rights body said Friday it was “gravely concerned” by a new Malaysian security law coming into force next week that grants the government extraordinary emergency powers.
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‘The law will definitely put fear in people planning to participate in street protests, ‘ said Wan Saiful Wan Jan, head of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, a Malaysian think tank. “We call on the government to revise the Act to bring it in line with worldwide human rights norms and standards”.
Najib added that he did not want to speculate on the matter.
Amnesty global has warned that the new Malaysian security law will give the Najib government “unchecked and abusive powers” and it could be used to encroach upon the human rights.
Najib has defended the law as necessary to combat terrorism, but its passage came amid the ongoing furore over allegations that billions of dollars were stolen from a state investment fund he founded and oversaw.
Najib came into office in 2009 pledging an end to ruling-party corruption and authoritarianism, but reversed course following a 2013 election setback and the financial scandal.
“These provisions run counter to the requirement to investigate wrongdoing and hold institutions and their personnel accountable in the case of human rights violations”, said Laurent Meillan, OHCHR’s acting regional representative in Bangkok.
Human right charity Amnesty said the Malaysian government had “assumed potentially abusive powers”.
It is all but certain that at some point over the next few weeks if not the next few days, the justice agencies of other countries are going to follow the United States in issuing charges of money laundering, theft of public funds and a plethora of others against Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak and officials of the scandal-scarred 1Malaysia Development Bhd. As many as 10 countries are investigating 1MDB or his family.
Human Rights Watch has called the act “truly frightening” and “a tool for repression”.
Tim Leissner, Goldman’s top banker in Southeast Asia and a close adviser to 1MDB until his resignation from the firm in early 2016, was also subpoenaed by the Justice Department, the Journal has reported.
The US move has heightened expectations of further anti-Najib protests in Malaysia, but there are concerns the security law could be used to prevent them.
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Najib’s ruling party has tightly controlled Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957 but increasingly faces accusations of corruption and repression.
