KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1 — The government should curb gun smuggling to stop the spate of shootings in the country, PAS information chief Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man (picture) has said when disputing the need for the return of laws that permit detention without trial.

Tuan Ibrahim shot down calls to reintroduce the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the colonial-era Emergency Ordinance (EO) laws, saying that these laws were open to abuse and were unjust.

“How many were detained under ISA and EO for illegal ownership of firearms?” the PAS leader asked in a statement yesterday.

He pointed out that existing laws were sufficient to deal with crimes involving firearms, stressing that the now-repealed detention laws were unnecessary.

“If it’s true that former EO detainees are behind recent heavy crimes, certainly the police can detain them under the Arms Act 1960 for owning firearms without licence and committing murder using firearms,” he said, saying that the sentences available under this law include the death sentence and lifetime imprisonment.

Tuan Ibrahim suggested that lax border checks had allowed smuggling syndicates to supply criminals with firearms.

“Therefore, PAS urges all the authorities to work together and find a more efficient way to prevent the smuggling of firearms into the country,” he said.

Yesterday, Tuan Ibrahim urged the police to publish a list of the country’s licensed firearms owners and review their activities.

His call was backed yesterday by the National Shooting Association of Malaysia (NSAM)’s honorary secretary Adam Tee.

The nation has been gripped by concern over crimes involving firearms, due to the recent high-profile shootings of Arab-Malaysian Development Bank founder Hussain Ahmad Najadi and anti-crime activist R. Sri Sanjeevan.

Another high-profile shooting had occurred last April when Customs Department deputy director-general Datuk Shaharuddin Ibrahim was gunned down while driving to his office in Putrajaya.

National news agency Bernama reported Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar saying on Tuesday that the police are closing in on those who are smuggling firearms into the country.

Former CID chief Tan Sri Zaman Khan was also quoted by Bernama yesterday as saying that shootings are a new phenomenon in Malaysia that likely involve hired killers.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak vowed on Tuesday to provide the police “anything” they need to fight serious crime, including extra powers under a new law that is expected to be tabled in Parliament in September.

Najib’s Cabinet and party colleague, Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, had recently called for the reinstatement of preventive detention laws after he blamed the rise in crime to the abolition of the EO.

The prime minister, however, has given his assurance that his government was committed to upholding human rights.