Two recent, and seemingly unrelated incidents, should have the Australian people in an uproar over the potential of these laws.
First is the impending hanging, in Singapore, of convicted Australian drug courier, Nguyen Tuong Van. True, anyone stupid enough to carry drugs into that ruthless city state doesn’t conjure immediate sympathy. But hanging?
The Australian Government, under John Howard, has been reluctant to involve themselves on Van’s behalf. Given the laws they are proposing, one should accept tacit approval of Singapore’s merciless approach.
And where will Prime Minister John Howard be when the hapless Van faces the executioner? Watching the cricket!
The second story broke at the weekend, out of neighbouring Malaysia. Complete with video footage (BBC Britain) is a story of a female detainee to strip naked and squat repeatedly while holding both ears. Note, detainee, not convicted prisoner.
The country's deputy inspector general of police said the practice was standard procedure.
A warm and friendly (that is sarcasm unless you missed it) Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the action of the policemen involved did not reflect the Government’s policy towards Chinese citizens.He said Malaysia did not have any policy stopping Chinese nationals from visiting the country. Instead, it encouraged and welcomed their visits. But they do have a policy of abuse of detainees it seems.Malaysian MP, Teresa Kok, and lawyer Sankaran Nair are raisng hell over three Chinese nationals who took their case to Kok alleging that they had been forced to strip after being detained for alleged visa violations and then spied upon by male police personnel.
The Proposed Australian Laws
The link between Australia and these two tiny, but economically dynamic countries is trade. Singapore, for one is talked of as a 'corporate society'. That is, it is run like a business, without the burden of regulation. John Howard likes that model.
That could be why, in the face of mounting criticism, but with the numbers to achieve success, Howard is ramming draconian anti-terrorism and workplace laws through the parliament. The latter we will deal with later, but the anti terrorism laws are ready to go.
The issues of concern, raised by a Senate committee and others:
■Preventive detention orders should not be issued on the basis of hearsay evidence.
■Minors should be segregated from adults in detention.
■Detainees should have the right to make representations before a continued preventive detention order was issued.
■Detainees should be told why they were being held.
■The Ombudsman should oversee the detention process.
The committee was also united in urging withdrawal of the sedition section of the new laws, pending review by the Australian Law Reform Commission. They propose extensive changes to the section if the Government won't do that.
The committee's argued that;
a delay would not weaken Australia's anti-terrorism capacity "given the nature of the existing law in this area… The committee is not convinced of an urgent need for the provisions in light of existing laws such as the offence of treason . . . and the crime of incitement."These are the laws the Government tried to force through the legislature without time for proper review. As a package, they give Australian governments incredible powers of arrest, detention and abuse.
They begin to emulate the restrictive Malaysian and Singaporean regimes, and are a good long step in that direction. These laws might be promoted as an anti-terrorism tool, but once in place, government can target anyone (or group) it sees as a threat or critic.
Of course the Australian people won’t cop that easily, but if they allow this legislation to succeed there is little they will be able to do about it.
No point crying about it when you are stripped naked in a cell, holding your ear lobes, doing sit ups!
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