Sosma bloc vote: Where were Najib and Zahid, Lembah Pantai MP asks

PETALING JAYA: Where were former prime minister and Pekan MP Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Bagan Datuk MP Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also Umno president, during the vote in the Dewan Rakyat to extend the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) on Wednesday (March 23), asks Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil.

The PKR communications director also said others who absent from the Dewan Rakyat when the vote was called were Bersatu president and Pagoh MP Tan Sri Muhiyiddin Yassin and Pontian MP Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan, who were among the 31 MPs who did not vote on Wednesday.

When a bloc vote was called, 84 MPs supported the Bill, while 86 opposed it with a total of 50 MPs absent.

“Some say that Pakatan Harapan breached the memorandum of understanding (MOU) by voting against the amendment, but it is better if they clarify why they were not there to support the government’s motion,” Fahmi said in a Facebook post Thursday (March 24).

He said if even two or three of them had been present during the time of the vote, the government’s motion would have been passed.

Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, meanwhile, took to Facebook to list down 32 MPs he claimed were not present in the Dewan Rakyat during the vote.

In his post, he claimed that Gombak MP Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, Padang Besar MP Datuk Zahidi Zainol Abidin and Ketereh MP Tan Sri Annuar Musa had arrived late and were not allowed to vote.

Several Umno leaders had taken Pakatan to task for defeating the Bill, saying they did honour their promise under the MOU.

Last September, the Barisan Nasional/Perikatan Nasional Federal Government signed a MOU with the opposition Pakatan Harapan to bring reforms and political stability to the nation amid the Covid-19 pandemic.