SINGAPORE: Singapore's Internal Security Act (ISA) and its provisions came up for debate in Parliament on Tuesday.
The MP for Pasir Ris Punggol GRC, Dr Janil Puthucheary said while he felt it inappropriate to detain a citizen without trial, he is convinced by the hard logic that the safety and security of Singapore must be paramount. That's because there are threats that Singapore faces and which must be dealt with swiftly and decisively.
But he wants to know what safeguards are in place to prevent the ISA from being abused.
Dr
Janil said: "I believe I share this view with many Singaporeans; we
understand the need to ensure our security despite our misgivings, we
recognise the cold hard facts despite the uncomfortable feeling they
generate. However, we lack confidence and assurance that the
extraordinary power of a State to detain its own citizens without trial
will not be abused.
"The process of the safeguards around the
ISA needs to be discussed in a more transparent manner, even as the
facts associated with a given detainee need to be kept secret. We need
to know that the review process works and operates independently of
Cabinet. We need to see that the President exercises his authority on
this issue."
Dr Janil asked if the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)
will be introducing further measures to enhance these safeguards and to
what extent can the decisions of Cabinet be challenged.
In his
maiden speech, the first-term MP also spoke on behalf of single unwed
parents who are not eligible for childcare leave and are not allowed to
apply for HDB flats.
He put forth a suggestion to examine the effects of these schemes on the health, development and social mobility of the child.
"The
issues I have brought up will not affect our GDP, they will not affect
our foreign affairs, they will not affect the vast majority of
Singaporeans directly. Nevertheless I urge that we re-examine these
issues; how we deal with them reflects our aspirations for the type of
society we want to become," said Dr Janil.
- CNA /ls
---------
MHA has already prepared the answer before he asked. Which MP will sabo his PAP minister colleague?
I feel very very sorry for Janil's father who kena ISA.
ISA still relevant in S'pore: DPM Teo
SINGAPORE: Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean has told Parliament that the Internal Security Act continues to be relevant to the country.
He explained that over the years, the government has used the ISA in good faith and in a measured way, in the prevailing security situations it has had to face, keeping Singapore safe and its people secure.
Mr Teo said the
government has used the ISA as a last resort when there is a significant
threat, and other laws are not adequate to deal with the situation.
He
said: "The difficult decisions that a government has to make to protect
its people must be made based on an individual country's context and
circumstances at the time.
"In Singapore, we have a law called
the ISA, which empowers the government to act, but it comes with a
system of safeguards and provides the detainee certain rights which must
be accorded to him."
Since the Malaysian Prime Minister
announced that his country will be abolishing the Internal Security Act,
there has been much debate as to the future of the preventive detention
law in Singapore.
Mr Teo made it clear that determining what is a
security threat to Singapore that requires the use of the ISA requires
judgement. That decision must be made by the elected government of the
day, at the given time and based on the situation at hand.
He
said the ISA allows the government to act quickly to prevent a threat
from developing into something very serious such as a bombing, or to
stem an organised pattern of subversion which promotes civil
disturbances and disorder.
Mr Teo told Parliament that the
government needed to use the ISA from the 1960s till the late 1980s to
counter the Communist Party of Malaya. In the 1990s, it was rarely used
except in a handful of espionage cases.
But it proved critical after September 11 to protect Singapore from global jihadist terrorism.
Mr
Teo said with the ISA, the Singapore Government could take prompt
pre-emptive action to neutralise and disrupt the Jemaah Islamiyah
network.
Otherwise, there could have been several truck bombs targeted at embassies exploding in Singapore in 2002.
Mr
Teo also explained why a specific Terrorism Act would not be adequate.
He said that such an act would not allow pre-emptive action against
those who have not yet committed overt deeds that warrant prosecution
but nevertheless belong to a wider terrorist network, unless the act is
very broad in scope and provides for preventive detention just like the
ISA.
He said: "A Terrorism Act drafted, say in 2002, would
probably not have adequately anticipated new forms of the terror threat,
like the self-radicalised lone-wolf which has emerged in recent years.
"A
case in point is the full-time NS man who was self-radicalised through
the Internet. He had expressed intent to conduct jihad abroad and had
already made online contact with a suspected Al-Qaeda recruiter and
radical ideologue Anwar al-Awlaki. But that would not have been
sufficient grounds to charge him in court, as under normal criminal
legislation, he had not yet committed an offence.
"The ISA
enabled the government to detain him preventively, just before he
embarked on demolition training in his course. We now have time to
assess, counsel and rehabilitate him. This avoided exposing Singapore to
a high, perhaps unacceptable degree of risk. The consequence may not
just be loss of innocent lives, but also serious damage to
inter-communal relations and trust."
Mr Teo added: "For the
foreseeable future, Singapore will need a law containing provisions like
those in the ISA, including preventive detention, to empower the
government to preempt and prevent serious threats to our security. The
precise form the law takes may evolve with time and circumstances.
"But
for the present, the ISA is a shield we need that protects us against
these threats, allowing us to deal with them swiftly and effectively
before they cause us serious and possibly permanent harm."
-CNA/ac