UMNO bigwigs Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Najib Razak were among those who did not vote for the government’s amendment bill for Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma), said opposition lawmaker Fahmi Fadzil.

“Based on eyewitnesses, the MPs who were absent during the Sosma amendment bill includes Zahid (Bagan Datuk), Najib (Pekan), Muhyiddin Yassin (Pagoh) and Ahmad Maslan (Pontian),” said the Lembah Pantai MP in a Facebook post this morning.

“They were among the 31 government MPs who were absent during the vote last night,” said Fahmi

Zahid is Umno president while Maslan is the party’s secretary-general. Najib is Umno advisor while Muhyiddin leads the Perikatan Nasional coalition and is Bersatu president.

Najib is in court for his role in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal.

Fahmi said it is hypocritical to blame Pakatan Harapan (PH) for breaking the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that the coalition signed with Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob last year.

“Instead of blaming Pakatan, they should explain why they were absent and failed to support the government’s amendment bill.

Zahid, who is pressuring Ismail to dissolve Parliament, had earlier called on the government to review the MOU after the Sosma amendment bill failed to pass yesterday.

Also making the call was deputy president Mohamad Hasan, who questioned the reliability of the opposition.

Both said PH had broken the MOU by not supporting the government.

However, newly appointed DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke rejected this notion. He said on Facebook that voting against the Sosma amendment had no bearing on the MOU.

The MOU specifically mentions support from PH required for Budget 2022.

The amendment bill – tabled by Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin – to extend the enforcement of Subsection 4(5) of Sosma for another five years was rejected by division vote (86-84) in Parliament yesterday.

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun, when announcing the vote, noted that 50 MPs were absent. – March 24, 2022.