Shahidan: Opposers don’t understand new legislation
CYBERJAYA: Opposition to the National Security Council (NSC) Bill may stem from a lack of understanding of what the proposed new law entails.
In reference to the Bar Council and civil societies, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said if they had understood the bill and the government’s intentions in drafting such a law, they would not have opposed it.
He then offered an olive branch and asked the Bar Council and activist Datuk S. Ambiga to meet with him and discuss the law, which was passed in the Dewan Negara on Tuesday without amendments.
“The Bar Council and Ambiga may not have read the law properly, that may be why they are opposing it ... ask the Bar Council and Ambiga to meet me,” he told a press conference after visiting the Special Malaysia Assistance Rescue Team (SMART) base here.
Shahidan said the Attorney-General’s Chambers had cleared the bill of any constitutional breaches and reiterated that the NSC Bill does not grant emergency powers to the council or the prime minister.
Meanwhile, the new year will be D-Day for Malaysia’s SMART team as they are entering the last legs of International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (Insarag) certification as a Heavy Urban Search and Rescue unit.
Shahidan said the whole certification process takes three years, including rigorous training regimes to make SMART an elite emergency disaster response unit.
The certification will let SMART take leading roles in search-and-rescue operations in disaster zones abroad, as countries give priority to certified units.
SMART will be having a preliminary test in March next year and another in May, before the final examination in June, which will be a 36-hour marathon that will test their skills, endurance, and grit.
Shahidan said the Singapore Civil Defence Force, the only South East Asian unit that is Insarag-certified, has been appointed as mentors to assist SMART through the certification process.