THE government can retable a bill to extend subsection 4(5) of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) after winning the vote by 105 to 83 in the Dewan Rakyat today.

At 7.40pm, Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun announced that there were 105 votes for revoking the house’s decision on March 23, compared to 83 votes against. 

“All those present today have voted with no abstentions,” said Azhar.

This means that 32 MPs were absent at the time of voting.

Earlier, Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin had tabled a motion to revoke the Dewan Rakyat’s decision on March 23 to reject a government bill to extend subsection 4(5) of the law for another five years.

Subsection 4(5) allows the police to detain a suspect for up to 28 days under Sosma. 

Prior to the vote, Hamzah said he would not argue the merits of the five-year extension as the government’s motion was to revoke the March decision.

“We will revoke this now so that I can present a new bill next week,” he told the Dewan Rakyat.

During the previous Dewan Rakyat session on March 23, the motion to extend the enforcement of subsection 4(5) of Sosma, which allows for the detention of suspects for up to 28 days without trial, was defeated after 86 MPs voted against it while 85 supported it with 49 MPs absent.

The five-year limit for the provision ends on July 31.

Human rights activists have asked for MPs to reject the motion as it allows detention without trial and should be abolished entirely because it severely undermines the principles of the right to a fair trial as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

And although the government says it would not be used against political rivals, former Bersih 2.0 chairman and now Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah was detained under Sosma for 10 days in November 2016 for organising the Bersih 5 rally.

In 2019, the government settled a court case with Maria and paid her RM25,000 in damages and RM5,000 in costs in 2019 without any admission of liability. – July 20, 2022.