I was in court, Najib says regarding absence during Sosma vote

PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak denies he was absent from Parliament to skip the vote on the motion to extend the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) enforcement period.

"I was in court until evening and Pakatan Harapan knows that.

"It is an attempt by the Opposition to fool the rakyat by saying they are not responsible for the defeat of the Sosma extension or violating the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the government," he said on Facebook on Thursday (March 24).

Najib said the Opposition even claimed that he was responsible for the failure of the MOU.

"The (Bersatu) and PAS presidents were not in the Dewan Rakyat (during the Sosma vote on Wednesday, March 23)," Najib added.

"So can we say they also want the MOU to fail and GE15 to be held in the near future?" he wrote.

Najib asked what happened to Pakatan's plan to repeal Sosma during its short time in power and why it only revisited the issue on Wednesday.

The Sosma motion was defeated in bloc voting after it was tabled by Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin. The government was seeking to extend enforcement of Sosma's provision for preventive detention of up to 28 days by a further five years from July 31.