Malaysia still needs Sosma, says Muhyiddin
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia still needs the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) to fight terrorism activities in the country, says Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
"We still need Sosma in light of what has been happening around the world recently, as well as locally.
"Sosma is needed as a legal instrument. If we don't have Sosma, they (perpetrators) will be free from the law and can cause danger to the country.
"Current laws in the country are not adequate," he said after launching the National Registration Department's (NRD) Day, here, today.
Muhyiddin again reiterated that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition never promised to abolish Sosma in their Election Manifesto.
"Please go and check. What we promised is to review chapters and sections which needs to be amended, which is said to be draconian and against human rights," he added.
The Home Ministry, Muhyiddin said, has started to engage with various agencies including the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) to receive input and response on the amendment.
"We have brought the first draft of (the amendment) to the Cabinet but it raised several matters that needs to be fine tuned.
"Issues such as access to legal service and the remand period of 28 days need to be looked at further.
"We are looking at bringing the amendments to Parliament early next year," he added.
Yesterday, Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu said Sosma should be improved upon instead of abolished.
He said a discussion led by the Home Ministry on amending the Act was currently ongoing; but acknowledged that there were concerns over the Sosma Act being abused.
On the assault on Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Malaysia I Ansar in 2016 which was deemed as isolated then, Muhyiddin said the police took action based on the intelligence by Special Branch.
"We don't only take one isolated incident (to investigate), we have been monitoring this and we have intelligence and investigations conducted continuously.
"It has been more than two years, the police has been monitoring this incident and they have submitted all the evidence to the court," he added.
Last Thursday, the police arrested seven people, including two DAP assemblymen – from Melaka and Negri Sembilan – for allegedly supporting and channelling funds to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and being in possession of materials related to the group’s cause.
Five more suspects were arrested on Saturday.
All 12 are being detained for 28 days, from the date of their respective arrests.
The conflict between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government went on for more than three decades after its leader, V. Prabhakaran, led a separatist movement to establish an independent state for the island’s Tamil minority.