Utara Malaysia UUM Students Perception on National Security Policy e Case of Internal Security Act ISA of Malaysia
Year: 2011

is study aims to examine the perception of the Internal Security Act (ISA) of Malaysia, focusing on the perceptions of students of Universiti Utara Malaysia. is study tries to determine the student's perceptions fi rst on the students' comprehension of Malaysia's national security policy in which constituted in the Malaysian Constitution and consequently understand its eff ect on the student's reaction or attitude. e study is conducted using a questionnaire survey, consisting of statements in which the students were required to rate their response on a 5 point Likert scale. e questionnaire also consists of four main sections in which the demography of students, the evaluation of students perception on current national security threats in Malaysia, sets of statements in which testing the students' basic comprehension of the ISA of Malaysia and fi nally their reactions towards the ISA itself. e fi nding indicates that the students are prone to social issues in which they determine it could be the major threat to Malaysia. Yet, there is no connection between comprehensions of the ISA and the reactions on the enforcement of the policy. Nevertheless, fi ndings reveal their reactions diff er between programmes of study and more inclined towards supporting the ISA and they also agree that government should take into consideration critics by the non governmental organizations as well as societal grievances. Seminar on National Resilience 108 BACKGROUND OF THE INTERNAL SECURITY ACT OF MALAYSIA e Malaysian government pursues its national security policy by taking into considerations of the Malaysian legal system from historical perspective (Salleh Buang, 1993, Ahmad Ibrahim, 1992, Abdul Monir Yaacob, 1989, Lee Mei Pheng, 2007, and Ramdas Tikamdas, 2003) Colonization of Malaysia (then Malaya) during the period of Portuguese to the era of the British shaped Malaysian legal system becomes a unique body. e era of international trade especially traders from Arab and China also had made a pinpoint of the legal historical sketch of Malaysia. All in all, it contributed to the development of a multi racial, multi ethnic and multi religious of the people of Malaysia. Civil liberty in Malaysia has been the utmost challenge under the Malaysian Constitutional Law. In the Federal Constitution [Article 10 (1)(b) provided the right to assemble peacefully and without arms subject to restrictions imposed by laws which Parliament deems necessary or expedient in the interest of national security or public order (Legal Research Board, 2005, Ahmad Mohamed Ibrahim Ahilemah Joned,1985) A report by SUHAKAM stated that various laws in Malaysia providing the preservation of national security and public order. An example of restrictions on the right to assemble is the Police Act 1967, Act 344 (revised 1988) (Report by SUHAKAM, 2002) It was alleged by some critics that the abuse of power under the Internal Security Act (ISA) had the eff ect of curtailing basic liberties and rights of the society according to international standard (Ramdas Tikamdas, 2003) It is also an issue of undermining the judiciary system in Malaysia whereby the Executive excesses of power intruding the court's decision. e idea to use of this Act for curbing the communist spread in Malaya is suspected to be no longer reliable to most of the people as the Emergence Act should be repealed. It is a serious condition when the proclamation of Emergency is not revoked by the government as it has the potential to Political Managements and Policies in Malaysia 109 be a 'perpetual state of emergency' which allows them to use emergency regulations even though during peace periods (Report by SUHAKAM, 2000) Malaysia was reported to be among the worst countries for press freedom. It is ranked number 131 out of 175 countries and it also is among the bottom three in the Southeast Asia region (Reporters Sans Frontieres, 2009) Recent case on the use of the ISA was Raja Petra Kamaruddin, a blogger of the Malaysia Today website. He was alleged to be "a threat to national security" by Dato' Seri Syed Hamid Albar (Minister of Home Aff airs at that time) As a new modern independence developing state, Malaysia has grown up and its economic achievements is among top three of the Gross Domestic Products per capita in ASEAN member states (ASEAN Economic Chartbook, 2009) Yet, when there are still domestic issues on poverty and unbalance economic of economy hitting in the air, the middle class in Malaysia emerged to be too large for the government to disregard (Crouch, H. 1984, p.33) Some of them are the former politicians who are actively participate in corporate sectors in which also known as the "rent seekers" (Mohd Abdad Mohd Zain, 1989) " e gap between "have" and "have nots" exists to be getting bigger especially in society where the elites are acquiring the wealth and power (Chandra Muzaff ar, 1992) From the issue of the power of the Home Minister to order the detention without trial (Section 8(1) the duration of the detention in which it could be extended to not more than two years and if there are in some reason, it may be renewed for not more than two years at a time (Section 8(7) and the Minister could reject the proposals of the Yang di Pertuan Agong regarding to the appeals of the detainees (Section (8) 12(2) It is not only the Home Minister who has the authority to order the detention. It is under the Section 73 (1) of the ISA that any police offi cer could detain anyone who becomes the suspect of threatening the national Seminar on National Resilience 110 security and the process can be done without any warrant. ese are the Acts in which had been highlighted by the people and also manipulated or used as argument by the oppositions towards the government. In conjunction to that, the 12th general election had become a benchmark for the Barisan Nasional to start rethinking upon the critics of the use of the ISA. Series of street demonstration demanding on abolishing the Internal Security Act (ISA) happening in Malaysia appear to be the closest and recent issue of local violence and grievances of the society. is issue should not be viewed as solely under the government local security policy problems to overcome but it should become an important agenda for the people since it could bring a huge impact to the Malaysian particularly on the issue of civil liberties. A PROBLEMATIQUE ACT? Civil liberties have the potential to be the next big thing in Malaysia Constitution. Shortly after the 12th general election, the impulse of most Malaysians was to condemn legislation such as the Internal Security Act (ISA) as failing to comply with the basic human rights issues. Why the Act becomes problem to the society? ere are three basic reasons in which the issue of the power of the Home Minister leads to order the detention without trial (Section 8(1) the duration of the detention in which it could be extended to not more than two years and if there are in some reason, it may be renewed for not more than two years at a time (Section 8(7) and the Minister could reject the proposals of the Yang di Pertuan Agong regarding to the appeals of the detainees (Section (8) 12(2) It is not only the Home Minister who has the authority to order the detention. It is under the Section 73 (1) of the ISA that any police offi cer could detain anyone who becomes the suspect of threatening the national security and the process can be done without any warrant. Political Managements and Policies in Malaysia 111 Perception leads to reactions, attitude and human behavior. Perceptions, be it genuine, slight profound concern or extreme will sooner or later be demonstrated through human reactions. e turmoil on street demonstrations would obviously aff ect the societal perception, particularly students in higher institution in which are the determinants of our future leaders and country's development. e chaos also could derive our country to a new kind of danger in the shape of possibility of aggressive behavior, bad infl uence or public manipulation by aggressors which would ultimately threaten the multi racial relationship and internal security. e actual impact of this issue towards Malaysian attitude and response is still unclear in comparison to the non governmental organizations. Based on this issue and problem, this study shall offi cially explore students' perception as well as their reaction towards the action taken by the government and future policy making. is study is specifi cally designed to investigate and understand the students' perception on the major threat to national security. ere are no signifi cant research has been done to specifi cally measure the perception of government security policy particularly on the related issue of the ISA in which it could easily manipulated by the interests groups in Malaysia or making the also called 'oppressive government' Although the series of demonstration occurred in major cities like Kuala Lumpur and Penang, Universiti Utara Malaysia which is far away in the North could not be disregarded from the heat of the people unrest. By systematically studying the perception of students who are having basic understanding of what is happening in Malaysia local aff airs and the governance matter, this knowledge could then be used to determine the reaction of students or community. Hopefully by identifying the students' perceptions, policy makers or administrators will be able to anticipate the reactions and implications that may occur arising out of the perceptions as well as becoming a basis for establishing proper strategy to attain any negative outcomes. Seminar on National Resilience 112 With this comprehension, it hopes to provide relevant input as well as awareness on the perception of national security policy by the students towards the government's policy and consequently, it is hoped that this knowledge could be utilized whethe