KUALA LUMPUR: The Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) will remain after all.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong announced yesterday that the government would only amend certain provisions in the Act, rather than repeal it.
In an immediate reaction, lawyers and an activist criticised the government for the about-turn but the Opposition agreed that it was a good idea to keep it.
Liew, who is de facto law minister, said at the Parliament lobby that the government planned to review two provisions – relating to the lack of access to lawyers and the 28-day detention.
The amendments will not be tabled immediately and the Home Ministry would have to complete its review first.
His statement came in the wake of an outcry over the detention of 12 people, including two DAP assemblymen, under the legislation last week. The 12 were held for alleged involvement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), also known as the Tamil Tigers.
Latest reports say there have been attempts to revive LTTE, which waged a decades-long insurgency to form a separate state in Sri Lanka until it was wiped out and its leader killed almost a decade ago.
Lawyers for Liberty director Melissa Sasidaran said Sosma was a “bad law”, as it provides for prolonged detention.
She said a provision that allowed evidence obtained by oppression, which would normally be inadmissible in a normal criminal trial, was against basic fair trial safeguards.
Criminal lawyer Sivahnanthan Ragava said permitting a witness to testify, without his identity being disclosed to the counsel and the accused, made the creditworthiness of the testimony questionable.
“To make matters worse, the witness will be able to give hearsay evidence. If there are 100 witnesses who testify that the accused is a terrorist, that is enough to convict him,” Ragava added.
Bersih 2.0 chairman Thomas Fann pointed out that while Pakatan Harapan (PH) did not specifically single out Sosma as one of the “draconian” laws that would be repealed, it did say that it would abolish draconian provisions such as those that prevented the court from reviewing decisions by the government.
“However, 18 months after PH came to power, these draconian provisions are still there.”
“What is the excuse for allowing the police to continue using these draconian laws?
“At the very least, there should be a moratorium on its usage until these laws are amended or abolished.”
On the other hand, Arau MP Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim lauded the government’s decision to keep the Act.
“Sosma is needed to safeguard the country’s security,” he told theSun.
On Liew’s statement that the government would review the provision for a 28-day detention for suspected terrorists, Shahidan said the police should be given all the time they need to investigate such cases.
“Sosma is needed for bad people, not to be abused to probe good individuals. Never trade security issues (for anything). The law will help the police and the rakyat too,” he said.
