They said the bill gave the prime minister absolute power to declare a location as security area, thereby usurping the power of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong as provided in the Federal Constitution, adding that it also allowed Putrajaya to seize control of state governments as the definition of national security was wide and vague.
Law expert Dr Abdul Aziz Bari said the Cabinet was the central authority but a prime minister could use the NSC as disguise to have absolute power to safeguard his position.
“So this is another tool a beleaguered prime minister could use to remain in power,” the Universiti Selangor (Unisel) lecturer told a forum titled, “National Security Council Act: to protect or to oppress” at a private club.
He said the National Operations Council, set up after the 1969 racial riots, and chaired by then deputy prime minister Tun Razak Hussein, was run by a royal decree.
Aziz said even the National Economic Action Council, formed after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, was still under the purview of the Cabinet.
“But the NSC is a monstrous bill created by Parliament to take over the government when three of the council members are mere senior civil servants,” he said.
According to the NSC Bill, the council will consist of the prime minister, deputy prime minister, home minister, defence minister, communications and multimedia minister, chief of defence, chief secretary to the government, and inspector-general of police.
The bill, which critics said gave wide security powers to the prime minister, was bulldozed and passed in the Dewan Rakyat by a voice vote last week.
It gives powers to the council to arrest anyone without a warrant once an area is declared a security area.
Sepang MP Mohamed Hanipa Maidin said the bill was fashioned for the prime minister to declare an emergency, a function for the Agong to perform under Article 150 of the constitution.
He said a law was akin to a knife that could be used or abused.
“We have the right to be fearful of this bill. Just imagine giving a desperate prime minister a knife which he will use it to stay in power,” said Hanipa, a lawyer by profession.
He said past experience also revealed that the Barisan Nasional leadership abused the repealed Internal Security Act, jailing opposition leaders and government critics when it was originally intended to fight the communist insurgency.
Human rights lawyer Andrew Khoo said the bill was drafted to meet the challenges of a belligerent Malay ruler who becomes the Agong and the head of the nation.
“Under the constitution, only the Agong can declare emergency if he is satisfied with all the conditions. But what happens if he disagrees with the prime minister?”
Universiti Malaya associate professor of law Dr Azmi Sharom said past incidents in Sarawak and Kelantan only revealed that emergency laws were abused for political reasons.
Chief minister of Sarawak Stephen Kalong Ningan was removed in 1966 because he was not cooperative with the federal government while in 1977, Kelantan menteri besar Mohd Nasir of PAS was removed in a no-confidence vote after he refused to resign.
A state of emergency was proclaimed in Kelantan and the following year, BN captured the state government in the general election.
“If you give them power, they will use it solve their problems, not ours,” he said, adding that emergency laws were enforced only when there were real threats to national security.
DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang said the arrests of former Umno leader Datuk Seri Khairuddin Hassan and his lawyer Matthias Chang for allegedly sabotaging the economy showed that Putrajaya has a tendency to abuse the law.
Lawyer Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said her checks revealed only Malaysia has such a law that gave one person the authority to declare emergency.
She also asked why the bill was shrouded in secrecy and passed after only two days of debate.
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