THE cabinet will decide if the Prevention of Crime Act (Poca) and Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) will be repealed during the next Parliament meeting, said Muhyiddin Yassin.

The home minister said the government will bring the two bills to Parliament after a cabinet decision is made.  

“There’s a lot of progress in the matter. There are some proposals to make changes to the laws, but we will bring them to Parliament when the cabinet has approved them,” he said.  

On December 2, Muhyiddin said the moratorium on several laws was lifted following the Sri Maha Mariamman temple riots.

The laws involved are Poca, Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota), Sosma, and the Sedition Act.  

Meanwhile, on the Rantau state seat by-election, Muhyiddin, who is the Pakatan Harapan deputy president, said the seat will be contested by PKR.  

“Any party that has won the seat or challenged the seat in GE14 will remain,” he said.  

“This was what was decided in the last general election, so the seat is PKR’s this time around,” he said.

On February 18, the Federal Court upheld an election court ruling to nullify the Rantau results, where Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan had won the state seat unopposed.

Election Court judge Azimah Omar allowed an election petition filed by S. Streram, who was denied entry to submit his nomination form due to the absence of his candidate’s pass in the last election.

Streram had sought for a by-election to be held for the seat on grounds that Mohamad’s election was not valid.

Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said the party’s political bureau would meet to decide on PKR’s candidate for Rantau.

The Election Commission is expected to announce the dates for the by-election tomorrow. – March 5, 2019.