Criminalising Terrorism: An Overview of Malaysia's Anti-Terrorism Laws

Terrorism is not a 21st century phenomenon and has its roots in early resistance and political movements. It is becoming a serious area of concern today due to the increase in terrorism related incidents in nations around the world. As a result, most nations including Malaysia have enacted many new legislations to counter these activities by criminalising them. The main argument for criminalising terrorism is that terrorism seriously undermines fundamental human rights, jeopardises the State’s peaceful politics as well as threatens international peace and security. Malaysia’s anti-terrorism Acts were enacted to counter threats from regional aggressors, third rate army, terrorist groups and even religious cults. However, these Acts have raised a lot of concern among stakeholders. Thus, this doctrinal research analyses all the anti-terrorism laws to identify whether they strike a balance between protecting national security and the principles of Rule of Law as well as basic human rights