I did not attend voting process, was told there would be no voting, says Ahmad Maslan on Sosma

KUALA LUMPUR: Pontian MP Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan (pic) says he did not take part in voting on the motion to extend the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) enforcement period as he thought there was no voting.

The Umno secretary-general said he was in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (March 24) but did not attend the voting process as several parliamentary officers had told him that there would be no voting.

“They said that there is no voting because there is already a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) (between the government and Pakatan Harapan). Pagoh and Marang (Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang) were also absent,” said Ahmad Maslan on Twitter on Thursday.

He also said that the Sosma vote will go down in the history books of the Dewan Rakyat.

The Sosma motion was defeated in bloc voting on Wednesday (March 23) after 84 MPs voted for and 86 against while 50 MPs were absent.

However, on Thursday, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun said the vote recount revealed that the government Bill was defeated by a single vote with Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh (BN-Besut) being mistakenly marked as absent when votes were being tallied.

The new count is 85 for and 86 against, while 49 were absent, said Azhar.

The government was seeking to extend the enforcement of sub-section 4(5) in Sosma for another five years beginning July 31, 2022.

Sub-section 4(5) allows the police to detain suspects without trial for up to 28 days.

However, the sub-section must be reviewed every five years and will cease to have an effect unless both Houses of Parliament agree to extend the period for another five years.

Sosma was enacted in 2012 and sub-section 4(5) was extended for the first time in 2017, for five years, from July 31, 2017 until July 31, 2022.