KUALA LUMPUR: Six Chinese nationals detained by police for alleged online gambling claimed today they were not subjected to Malaysia’s prevention laws.
Lawyer Gobind Singh Deo, representing the six men, told judicial commissioner Azhar Abdul Hamid in the High Court the Prevention of Crime Act (Poca) used against them was “limited to only Malaysians”
“There is no dispute that Poca was enacted based on Articles 149 and 151 of the Federal Constitution, which give powers to Parliament to legislate laws against action prejudicial to public order, including preventive detentions.
“We would like to point out that under Article 151(1)(b), the law is clearly limited to our citizens. It cannot be extended beyond that,” he said during argument on a habaes corpus application by the six.
He said that, in a normal situation, a detainee could make his representation to the Advisory Board, and the board would have to submit its representation within three months to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for his consideration.
The six – Jiang Xiang, Wang Jun Cheng, Li Jiang, Luo Hong Bin, Lei Meng and Yu Xiang Yu – claimed their detention was unlawful.
They were arrested by police in October and remanded for 59 days from Nov 23.
Gobind also told the court that the Poca by-law – the Prevention of Crime (Identity Card) Regulations – could not be applied against the six as they do not possess identity cards.
“This is an interesting regulation, which requires detainees to hold special identification cards or ‘brown cards’ that identify them as Poca registered persons.
“We would say that this cannot be used on the six men because ‘identity cards’ as defined under Regulation 11(1) refer to our ICs,” he said.
In response, senior federal counsel for the home ministry Zulkifli Abdullah told the court that Poca was also applicable to non-Malaysians.
“There is nothing in Poca’s preamble to say the law cannot be used against non-citizens,” he said.
This prompted judicial commissioner Azhar to ask Zulkifli if the government was taking the stand that only Malaysians could submit representations to the Advisory Board.
“Are you saying that only Malaysians can make their representations before the board?” Azhar asked, adding that Poca and its by-laws were enacted through provisions under the Federal Constitution.
Zulkifli answered in the affirmative, adding that this was based on “literal reading” of Poca and its by-laws.
Azhar then asked Zulkifli if non-Malaysian detainees could seek legal recourse, but the senior federal counsel said Poca was not meant to exclude non-Malaysians.
“Article 151(1)(b) should not be read in isolation in that way and must be read with other provisions,” Zulkifli said.
The court set Jan 22 for its decision on whether to grant freedom to the six men.
The Chinese nationals were also reprsented by lawyers Jacky Loi and Haijan Omar, while Mohamad Safuan Azhar, Adilah Roslan and Norazlin Mohamad Yusoff also appeared for the home ministry.
“I think both parties have interesting points that have not been raised before the courts,” Azhar added.