About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

25 IIUMLJ 1 (2017)

handle is hein.journals/iiumlj25 and id is 1 raw text is: 25 (1) 2017 IIUMLJ 1 - 28 CRAFTING ANTI-TERRORISM LAW IN MALAYSIA: STRIKING A DELICATE BALANCE BETWEEN NATIONAL SECURITY AND PERSONAL LIBERTY Ho Peng Kwang* Johan Shamsuddin Sabaruddin** Saroja Dhanapal*** ABSTRACT The sudden rise of this radical terror group calling themselves the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the brazen show of decapitation of their captives have sent shock waves across the globe. This prompted the United Nations Security Council to adopt Resolution 2178 calling for its members to take preventive counter- terrorism measures to contain the spread of this radical ideology propagated by ISIL. Malaysia in responding to this call, has passed and enacted the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2015 (POTA) despite receiving much criticism that POTA has eroded fundamental human rights, in particular, the right to one's liberty. This article examines the challenges faced by the government in balancing between national security and personal liberty when crafting POTA. The article shows that equilibrium is hard to achieve between the two competing rights and thus has become disproportionate by looking at the POTA itself. The article concludes Malaysia's counter- terrorism strategy prioritises national security over basic human rights, which clearly is abhorrent to the rule of law and that in fact, the threat posed by terrorism could have been exaggerated by the government in their efforts to fight terrorism as there are many other threats to life which call for more attention than the threat of terrorism itself. Keywords: terrorism, counter-terrorism, POTA, human rights, national security. Ph.D. Candidate, Faculty of Law, University of Malaya, email: richo@siswa.um.edu.my. Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Malaya, email: johans@um.edu.my. Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Malaya, email: saroja.dhanapal@um.edu.my.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most