Dewan Rakyat votes against five-year extension of 28-day detention under Sosma

KUALA LUMPUR: A bid by the government to continue with the powers to detain suspects for up to 28 days without trial under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) failed after the Dewan Rakyat voted against it.

The motion tabled by Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin (pic) to extend the enforcement of subsection 4(5) of Sosma for another five years beginning from July 31, 2022, was defeated after it was put to a bloc vote following a heated debate.

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun announced that the bloc voting saw 84 MPs voting for and 86 against, while 50 MPs were absent.

Azhar had also disqualified at least three MPs from voting, as they had entered the hall late for the bloc vote process.

Several Opposition MPs, who had earlier insisted on the abolition of Sosma during the debates, were heard cheering and celebrating the announcement made by Azhar that the motion had been defeated.

When tabling the motion in the Dewan Rakyat earlier, Hamzah said that when the Act was enacted in 2012, the period of sub-section 4(5) had been limited to five years only to create a check and balance element in its enforcement.

“However, sub-section 4(11) states that sub-section 4(5) may be reviewed every five years and extended if passed by both Houses of Parliament,” said Hamzah.

Hamzah noted that this was not the first time the government had sought to extend the powers of detention under subsection 4(5) of Sosma.

It was first enforced on July 31, 2012 and was first extended in 2017, for five years, from July 31, 2017 until July 31, 2022.

Hamzah said the preventive laws to detain suspects for such a long period is still necessary, in light of the seriousness of the crimes it intended to thwart.

He also highlighted the fears of certain quarters who claimed Sosma was being arbitrarily used to carry out political detentions, but said that the law was the best mechanism in dealing with security threats.

"So far, a total of 3,717 suspects were detained under Sosma between 2016 and January this year.

"A total of 126 suspects were charged for terrorism between 2017 and 2022, while 552 were charged for smuggling migrants between 2018 and 2022," he said when tabling the motion.

However, a large number of Opposition MPs were against the 28-day detention period, with R. Sivarasah (PH-Sungai Buloh) saying that the provisions excluded the courts from acting as a check and balance involving detention of suspects under Sosma.

He said that criminal suspects are usually detained for a maximum of 14 days under the Criminal Procedure Code, which is subject to approval by the Magistrates Court.

Mohamed Hanipa Maidin (PH-Sepang) said going against Sosma did not mean that they supported terrorism.

"Sosma is a cruel law, anyone who wishes to uphold justice must think about fairness even when it comes to the accused," he said.

Kasthuri Patto (PH-Batu Kawan) claimed that Sosma was used as a political tool to detain Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah in 2016 when she led the Bersih movement.

"She was detained merely because she was championing for a free and fair democratic process," she said.