Don't do it!

Given our culture, there is reason to believe that the law, if amended to make provision for telephone bugging, will be thoroughly abused. Every time a black law, like the SPA, for instance, was enacted, there was an arbitrary and retaliatory application of it by the government of the day against political rivals. And telephone tapping is interference with such an appliance of daily use that there will be no end to the abuse of law there -- it can be disquietingly pervasive. It presages a direct invasion of privacy and highly susceptible to subjecting people to harassment on political or personal grounds, which will do little to curb terrorism. One suspects that it might cause a major distraction among the intelligence operatives away from their main functions.

The government has more relevant areas to attend to as part of its ant-terrorism campaign. It has been a common concern with us that listed criminals were arrested, only to be released as they had links with influential quarters. Such incidents could only make a mockery of the much vaunted drive against crime. And this being the case, the point of amending a law to tap telephonic conversations becomes superfluous. What it will lead to is intimidation of people, particularly those on the wrong side of vendetta seekers and even blackmailing for fleecing money.

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Obviously, people are cooperating with the law -- in some cases they have supplied vital information about militant outfits, let alone information flow from the media -- and all of this obviates the need for having a legal provision that will cause great consternation to all telephone users.

The government should refrain from doing something that will be a blow to our fledging democratic culture.