domestic legislation and a review of the legal and practical effect of that legislation. A clear distinction should be made between legislation to combat national and international terrorism and legislation for less heinous domestic offences against the State, person or property. 2. The definition of ‘terrorist’ in the Penal Code Amendment Act 2003 is considerably wider than the definition contained within the Internal Security Act which is itself very wide. Care must be taken that it is not used to restrict freedom of expression and association. Persons who have merely voiced dissent without advocating the overthrow of the established order by violent means should not come within the definition of terrorist. 3. The circumstances in which derogations to fundamental rights are permitted by Article 149 of the Constitution extend well beyond a situation of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation as required by Article 4 of the ICCPR. In any event Article 149 should be strictly complied with and not interpreted widely so as to render the Constitutional rights nugatory. 4. The provisions of the Prevention of Crime Act which provide for the receipt or procurement of all evidence in relation to a person, whether admissible or not, and which create a presumption of guilt in relation to specified persons contravene the entitlement to a fair trial in Article 14 of the ICCPR. The presumption of innocence is additionally a customary norm of international law which is binding on Malaysia notwithstanding that it is not a party to the ICCPR. 5. Under Article 151 of the Constitution an arresting officer who “has reason to believe there are grounds” to justify detention should be required to communicate the full particulars of this belief at the time of arrest and in writing as soon as possible thereafter. Justification of a detention only after the detention has commenced makes the initial validity of the arrest suspect. 6. The provisions of the Internal Security Act extending the period of police investigation for 60 days, denying the detainee the right to be released on bail and permitting a Ministerial order for detention at any time after arrest without any possibility of judicial 26