KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 — Lawyers from across the country today urged Putrajaya to withdraw the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Bill (Pota) 2015 from next week’s Senate meeting, warning that it would reintroduce oppressive laws that have since been repealed.

The Malaysian Bar, Sabah Law Association and the Advocates’ Association of Sarawak claimed that the passage of the Bill by Parliament in the early hours on Tuesday was a clear attempt by the federal government to “resurrect” the repealed Internal Security Act (ISA) 1960, Restricted Residence Act 1933, Banishment Act 1959 and Emergency (Public Order and Prevention of Crime) Ordinance 1969, all under one law.

“Pota is objectionable, ignores due process, infringes upon our constitutional rights, and is repugnant to the rule of law. Pota brings about the re-emergence of detention without trial laws, the limiting or denial of legal representation, and the ouster of the jurisdiction of the courts,” the groups said in a joint statement.

The groups stressed that there are numerous vague references in the laws that give the Bill an “extremely wide” reach and opens it to abuse.

The groups said the scope of the Bill is ill defined, as terms used in Pota to describe individuals allegedly involved in terrorism are too general.

According to the Bill, it is to be used on persons who are “engaged in the commission or support of terrorist acts involving listed terrorist organisations in a foreign country or any part of a foreign country”.

“It opens up the real possibility that almost anyone could be targeted under Pota. It cannot be conveniently seen as simply targeting ‘terrorists’.

“We have seen how the ISA, which had been meant to deal with the communist insurgency, was used to stifle political dissent and imprison political opponents,” the groups said.

The statement also argued that Pota represents an “absolute ouster of judicial scrutiny”, in that it does not allow judicial review of a detention or restriction order, while removing a magistrate’s discretion to refuse a remand request and compels the Sessions Court to allow an application to attach an electronic monitoring device to an accused.

“Discretionary powers that exist to enable the judiciary to confront the excesses of the executive are now effectively extinguished. The intrusion on judicial discretion permitted by Pota is serious, as it is tantamount to vesting judicial power in the executive.

“We remind the government that under our constitutional scheme, judicial power is vested in the judiciary, and the vesting of judicial powers in any other body is unconstitutional,” read the statement.

The three groups acknowledged that the government needs to adapt to the evolving threat of global terrorism to counter it domestically, but insisted that it cannot be done at the expense of the rule of law, human rights and principles of natural justice.

“The war against terrorism requires the strengthening of our ability to detect, gather evidence, investigate and deal with the threat of terrorism in a holistic manner. We must eschew shortcuts or quick fixes that seemingly provide short-term solutions but no long-term result,” they said.

Tabled in Parliament on Monday, the new law will allow authorities to detain suspected terrorists without bringing them to court for up to two years, with a Prevention of Terrorism Board (POTB) empowered to renew the detention order for an indeterminate amount of time.

It also does not allow judicial reviews of detention orders, except for questions on their compliance with procedural matters.

Opposition lawmakers have claimed such provisions mirror that of the ISA, which was often used to silence political opposition to the establishment.

They also argued that the government already have strong existing laws like the Special Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 to deal with terrorism, noting that it allows for long detention for investigation.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi did not address the question but argued that existing laws were not equipped with preventive powers, which are required to deal specifically with terrorism.