PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

The threat posed by terrorism, a world-wide phenomenon, is not easy to address. Contributing to the difficulty of the task are the changing motivation of terrorist activities, their diverse sources of financing, the increasingly more destructive and dangerous methods of attack as well as their varied targets. Terrorism, thus, seems to require special measures to prevent and curb. Many countries have enacted new laws or have amended existing ones and these have common features relating to the investigation, apprehension and prosecution of suspected terrorists. A notable feature of such legislation is the detention of suspects without charge or trial and without the other constitutional safeguards accorded to a criminal. One such piece of anti-terrorist legislation is Malaysia's recent Prevention of Terrorism Act 2015 (POTA). This paper espouses the view that POTA is necessary to curb terrorism in Malaysia and analyses the new Act to identify its strengths and weaknesses in curbing acts of terrorism in the country with the view of recommending amendments thst would enhance its effectiveness as a piece of anti-terrorist legislation.