KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 ― The National Security Council Act that will come into force August 1 is crucial to protect Malaysians who now face the very real threat of attacks from global terror group Islamic State (IS), Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today.

He acknowledged criticism over the security law but said its detractors have "deliberately misinterpreted" his administration’s purpose in enacting the legislation.

"It is not the same as a declaration of national emergency ― that power remains with His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong ― and Parliament remains sitting with oversight on any security area declared," he said in a statement tonight.

Najib noted the increasing reports of terror attacks worldwide by those who would pervert Islamic ideology and pointed out that Malaysia has not been spared.

"We are far from immune in Malaysia, as the first IS attack on us last month showed," he said.

Police have confirmed that the grenade attack on the Movida bar in Puchong, Selangor on June 28 that injured eight patrons was the first successful strike on home ground by IS militants.

Najib said the NSC Act as well as the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act, the Special Measures against Terrorism in Foreign Countries Act, and the Prevention of Terrorism Act were introduced following requests from the country’s security forces to combat these new threats.

"My government will never apologise for placing the safety and security of the Malaysian people first. These laws were necessary, and other countries have since followed our lead," he said.

He urged Malaysians to unite so as to better combat the global terrorism scourge.

The NSC Act was passed in Parliament last December and empowers the National Security Council made up of a panel of eight members and chaired by the prime minister to declare any area a "security area" for a period of six months and deploy forces to search any individual, vehicle or premises without a warrant.

It also allows investigators to dispense with formal inquests into killings by the police or armed forces in those areas.

Critics argue that the law's expansive powers threaten human rights and have expressed concern that the NSC Act did not gain the customary royal assent after its passage through Parliament.