HOME Minister Hamzah Zainudin today said some backbenchers did not vote on the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) amendment as they could not stand the sight of him

The Larut MP said he was disappointed in the MPs who were absent for the vote.

“Of course, I was not very happy. Some of them were already in the chamber. I can name them. They just left during the division vote. That’s not fair.

“The reason they gave was that they don’t like my face,” he told reporters at a police training centre today.

On Wednesday, parliament nixed the bill tabled by Hamzah to extend the enforcement of subsection 4(5) of Sosma by five years. The bill was rejected 86-84.

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun, when announcing the vote, noted 50 MPs were absent. 

Fahmi Fadzil (Lembah Pantai-PH) said Umno bigwigs Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Najib Razak were among those who did not vote for the bill.

“According to eyewitnesses, the MPs who were absent during the Sosma amendment bill includes Zahid (Bagan Datuk-BN), Najib (Pekan-BN), Muhyiddin Yassin (Pagoh-PN) and Ahmad Maslan (Pontian-BN).

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

Hamzah today confirmed a report that the Home Ministry will retable the bill in the Dewan Rakyat.

“I am looking at how we can retable it. There is a time crunch.

August will be too late as it (the clause) would have expired by then. We have to see how this can be done,” Hamzah was quoted as saying in a report by The Star.

The first meeting of the Dewan Rakyat ended on Thursday and the house is set to sit again from July 18 to August 14. – March 25, 2022.