CHAPTER 2 - REPORT OF THE COMPLAINTS AND INQUIRIES WORKING GROUP
The Commission noted that, under the preventive detention laws, the detainee is given an opportunity
to make representations against the order to the Advisory Board as provided in Article 1515 of the
Federal Constitution. Nevertheless, a person should be allowed to seek a fair public trial in Court as
the judicial system is the best avenue to uphold justice and the rule of law. The judicial system would
act as a safeguard against possible arbitrary detention, to reduce other forms of abuse and ensure
accountability of the Government agencies that enforce the preventive detention laws.
Submission of memorandum on the arrest of Benjy, an actor, under preventive detention law
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Article 151. Restrictions on preventive detention:
(1) Where any law or ordinance made or promulgated in pursuance of this Part provides for preventive detention:
(a) the authority on whose order any person is detained under that law or ordinance shall, as soon as may be, inform him of the grounds for
his detention and, subject to Clause (3), the allegations of fact on which the order is based, and shall give him the opportunity of making
representations against the order as soon as may be;
(b) no citizen shall continue to be detained under that law or ordinance unless an advisory board constituted as mentioned in Clause (2) has
considered any representations made by him under paragraph (a) and made recommendations thereon to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong within three
months of receiving such representations, or within such longer period as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong may allow.
(2) An advisory board constituted for the purposes of this Article shall consist of a chairman, who shall be appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong
and who shall be or have been, or be qualified to be, a judge of the Federal Court, the Court of Appeal or a High Court, or shall before Malaysia Day
have been a judge of the Supreme Court, and two other members who shall be appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
(3) This Article does not require any authority to disclose facts whose disclosure would in its opinion be against the national interest.
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