KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 —  Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today dismissed human rights concerns surrounding the proposed Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), saying “preventive” laws were needed to tackle threats of terrorism in the country.

The home minister also urged Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers to support the proposed law when it is tabled in Parliament, saying the safety of the country was the top priority for the federal government.

“We need the Prevention of Terrorism Act because other laws are punitive, this is preventive,” he told reporters when met at the Parliament lobby here.

“They can say anything they want. As the government, we have to protect the people,” Zahid said when asked to comment on concerns that provisions of the POTA violate human rights.

But he also said terrorist activities in the country were currently “controllable.”

Earlier today, Padang Serai MP N. Surendran complained that opposition lawmakers have yet to be furnished with a copy of the proposed security law.

The PKR vice president said that this omission was particularly concerning as the new anti-terrorism law that could reintroduce indefinite detention without trial is due to be tabled in the current session.

“This is a crucial bill which will have wide impact on civil liberties and law enforcement powers. Yet, we have not been given copies of the bill even though the sitting has started,” he said.

The proposed law was first announced in November, when the prime minister tabled a White Paper in Parliament titled “Addressing the threat of Islamic State”.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was last week reported as saying by Utusan Malaysia that the law included provisions for indefinite detention without trial.

Critics are concerned that the new law resembles the Internal Security Act, which was repealed in 2012, particularly over elements of arbitrary detention.

They also stressed that preventive detention powers could jeopardise the criminal justice system in the long run with no guarantee on the effectiveness in addressing extremism and violent ideologies.