Anwar Government should give priority to legal reforms to ensure that the abuses of SOSMA in the last decade to muzzle corruption scandals, promote free and fair elections, and to arrest Malaysians in non-existing links with Tamil Tigers could not be repeated

The Anwar Government should give priority to legal reforms to ensure that the abuses of Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) in the last decade to muzzle corruption scandals, promote free and fair elections, and to arrest Malaysians in non-existing links with Tamil Tigers could not be repeated

The SOSMA abuses in the last decade include:

1. The arrests of Khairuddin Abu Hassan and his counsel Matthias Chong to prevent them from launching an international campaign to expose the 1MDB scandal. In fact, Khairuddin won a lawsuit for wrongful detention against the government and was awarded RM300,000 in damages and RM50,000 in costs.
2. The arrest former Bersih 2.0 Chairperson and former Petaling Jaya Member of Parliament, Maria Chin Abdullah for Bersih campaign for free and fair elections.
3. The arrest of former DAP Malacca Executive Councillor and State Assemblyman, G. Saminathan and Negeri Sembilan State Assemblyman P. Gunasekaran for alleged links to the LTTE, claiming that they were part of a plot to attack the Sri Lanka Commission in Malaysia.
4. A total of 33 families in Sungai Petani, Kedah, who were left in the lurch after police arrested their sole breadwinners under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) in 2020 after over two years later, the men aged 22 to 60 are still in remand waiting for their court hearing, after being subsequently charged under the Penal Code.

It was because of these SOSMA abuses that 88 Pakatan Harapan MPs voted against then the extension of Subsection 4(5) of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) for another five years in July this year.

The Home Minister at the time and now the Opposition Leader Hamzah Zainudin, while winding up the Sosma motion debate in July this year, agreed with the government and opposition lawmakers on the existence of unfair provisions and clauses in the Act.

Hamzah said the cabinet led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad agreed on Nov 29, 2019, to make an amendment to Sosma.

Hamzah said the Ismail Sabri administration needed more time to execute what the cabinet decided in 2019 as it needed to engage with stakeholders, including the police.

The Anwar Government should complete the Ismail Sabri’s government consultations on the repeal of the draconian provisions in SOSMA, and bring the amendments to SOSMA to Parliament in the February session to prevent a repeat of the abuses of SOSMA in the last decade.