Preventive Detention Laws in Malaysia & Their Use

Having devised a standard preventive detention framework in Chap. 3, an attempt will be made in this Chapter, in the first instance, to use the standard framework as a yardstick to expose the weaknesses of the Malaysian Constitution’s provisions concerning preventive detention. Subsequently, this Chapter will make it manifestly evident that such weaknesses have given the Parliament carte blanche to enact arbitrary laws concerning preventive detention. Consequently, it will be shown that the absence of effective safeguards in the Constitution of Malaysia has permitted succeeding generations of executives to use the extraordinary power of preventive detention in an indiscriminate manner for imposing unwarranted restrictions on the liberty of individuals.