Dato Sebastian on the National Security Council Bill

suppadmin | December 15, 2015

Secretary general, Dato’ Sebastian Ting, urged the lawmakers to vote for what is right for our country.

He was referring to the National Security Council Bill tabled to the Parliament for the first reading yesterday. The proposed new law intends to seek to create a council which will have the power, amongst others, to declare certain area a “security area” and the council will have wide ranging powers in particular concerning security.

The proposed members of the Council are the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Defense Minister, Inspector-General of Police and the Chief Secretary.

Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) is always supportive of a stable and a strong government. The safety of the people and property are the upmost concern for any political party and the Nation. At the same time, we are also mindful that the wide powers granted by the law should not be misapplied or abused.

SUPP is gravely concerned over the impact of the proposed law on Sarawak (and Sabah, being in the same position as Sarawak within the Federation of Malaysia). There is no representation from Sarawak (and Sabah) in the Council. For nation building, It is therefore very important that there are representations from Sarawak and Sabah.

Malaysia was formed as a federation of 3 separate entities – Federation of Malaya, Sarawak and Sabah (after the separation of Singapore in 1965),based on the Inter Governmental Committee Report, IGC, and the Malaysia Agreement 1963. This law should be in line with these documents and reflect the correct composition of the three remaining States by including the views and voices from the other two partner States of this Nation.

SUPP proposes that the Council be expanded to include the Chief Ministers of Sarawak and Sabah as members of the Council or their nominated representatives. Furthermore, before any part of Sarawak (or Sabah) is to be declared a security area, the consent of the respective Chief Minister be made mandatory.

We further propose that Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Communications and Multimedia be included in the Council because these ministries are indeed relevant.

SUPP asks for the Bill to be amended to reflect the above requests.