Salute To Igp S Professional Stand On Sosma Clause Extension Defeat

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March 23 will go down in the annals of Parliament as a historic day. It was on this day that a government motion in the Dewan Rakyat was defeated, for the first time in recent memory.
Malaysians are likely to see it as either a triumph for the opposition or a defeat for the government. But I see more as a pleasant indication of democracy at work.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the swift response from inspector general of police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani and the professionalism of his stand.
I hadn’t expected the government’s motion to extend the power to detain suspects for up to 28 days without trial under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) to be voted down. After all, it had a majority, albeit a slim one in Parliament. And there hadn’t been any government motion in recent history that had been defeated.
In 2019, a government bill was defeated in the Dewan Rakyat but that was largely because it needed a two-thirds majority, not a simple majority as in the Sosma case.
On April 9, 2019, the Pakatan Harapan government’s Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2019 – which sought to restore the status of Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners with Peninsular Malaysia as enshrined in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 – was defeated when only 138 MPs voted for it.
The bill needed the support of 148 of the 197 MPs at the Dewan Rakyat that day, or two-thirds, to succeed and although none voted against it, 59 abstained.
The extension of the Sosma sunset clause was defeated by a mere vote on March 23 after 19 MPs debated on it. A total of 86 MPs voted against the motion, 85 supported and 49 others were not in the house when the vote was taken.
This provision, which grants the police special powers to hold individuals arrested and detained under the Act for up to 28 days, therefore, will not be in force after it lapses on July 31, 2022 unless the government tables the motion again and ensures that all its MPs are present to cast their votes. So, this is not the end of the story.
The government parliamentary whip may have to answer for the shortage of MPs during the March 23 vote. But that’s an internal matter.
Noting the defeat of the motion, deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Mas Ermieyati Samsudin wisely tabled a motion to postpone the Second and Third Reading of the Constitutional Amendment Bill 2022 to March 24. The motion was passed but not before the opposition raised a protest.
In moving the motion to extend the enforcement of sub-section 4(5) of Sosma for another five years from July 31, 2022, home minister Hamzah Zainudin noted that under the 2012 Act the effective period of sub-section 4(5) had been limited to five years but with a provision that Parliament could renew it every five years. This was to serve as a check-and-balance in its enforcement.
The provision had previously been extended by Parliament – from July 31, 2017 to July 31, 2022.
Hamzah told the Dewan Rakyat that the 28-day detention without trial period would provide sufficient time to the police to complete investigations, noting that the investigation of cases involving security offences, especially terrorism and organised crime was complex and took time to complete.
Hamzah revealed that from 2016 to January 2022, a total of 3,717 individuals had been detained under this Act. Out of this, 400 individuals had been held for involvement in terrorism-related activities and 321 for links to human trafficking syndicates.
“Without subsection 4(5) being extended and if the total detention of 28 days is not maintained, it is feared that the quality of police investigations will be affected,” he concluded.
However, describing Sosma as a “draconian law”, opposing MPs argued that it was inhumane to deny a detainee the right to counsel or bail and to challenge the detention in court. They said subsection 4(5) was especially open to abuse by the authorities.
I was surprised when Hamzah agreed that some of the opposition’s arguments “made sense”, including the need for a schedule that specified the number of maximum days a detainee could be held under Sosma according to the type of offence. That shows his sense of balance and should be appreciated.
The minister said such matters – including a call to allow a suspect to be brought before a magistrate or a neutral party to ensure there was no abuse of power in the detention – could be reviewed after the motion was approved.
As I said earlier, I was also surprised by the speedy and professional stand taken by IGP Acryl Sani following the Dewan Rakyat’s rejection of subsection 4(5).
Saying police would comply with the decision of lawmakers, Acryl Sani assured that police would no longer enforce subsection 4(5) under Sosma from July 31.
“Instead, we will use provisions under existing laws, including those under the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), to detain and remand suspects who are under investigation,” he said in a statement, adding: “We remain committed to continuing investigations using laws that are in force.”
The IGP did not complain; did not whine. He did not try to give a long list of reasons as to why the nation would now be open to greater threats or whatever.
No. He acted like a true policeman. If you give us the tools, well and good. If you don’t give us the tools, it’s okay, we’ll manage with what we have; but you can depend on the fact that we’ll still do our duty. That’s the message I got.
I salute the IGP for that.
I’m sure he was disappointed but he did not show it, at least not in public.
Having walked in and out of police stations, gone on raids with policemen and seen how policemen work in my career as a journalist, I can tell you that it’s tough. It takes much effort, time, skill and commitment to solve most cases.
Although there are some lazy and dirty cops, although there is abuse of power now and then, our policemen generally do good work. And it should be appreciated.
The work of the police will now be tougher but policemen are made of sterner stuff than most of us and I am confident they’ll do their best. In one sense this is good because they will be forced to enhance their skills and improve the quality of their work to produce credible evidence for a conviction.
And as so many lawyers have pointed out, the police have at their disposal preventive laws such as the Prevention of Crime Act, the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) Act and the Prevention of Terrorism Act. It is not as if they have no tools at all.
Also, let’s not forget that Sosma is still available to the police, only the power to detain a suspect for up to 28 days is gone.
Having said that, I too feel that detention without legal and ethical safeguards does not reflect well on a democratic nation and that it impinges on a citizen’s rights.
I hope the government does not attempt to reintroduce the clause but if it does so, I hope it will incorporate the amendments suggested by MPs and lawyers so that it will not be open to abuse.
What we need is a balance between allowing a suspect his rights and allowing the police to carry out their duties as unhindered as possible so that they can keep the streets safe. -FMT
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

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