SEVERAL Government MPs who were absent during the vote to approve a motion under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (SOSMA) in Parliament on Wednesday (March 23) ditched the vote because they cannot stand the sight of him, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin claimed.
Expressing his dismay with the Government MPs who were absent during the parliamentary session, he said that it was unfair of them to not support the motion.
“Of course, I was not very happy. Some of them were already in the Dewan. I can name them. They just left during the bloc vote. That’s not fair,” he was quoted as saying by Free Malaysia Today on the sidelines of an event at the Police Training Centre today (March 25).
“The reason given was that they don’t like my face.”
On Wednesday, Hamzah’s motion to extend the provision on the maximum 28-day detention without trial under SOSMA for another five years was defeated when 86 MPs voted against it while 84 were in favour.
The remaining 50 MPs were absent.
Earlier today, The Star reported Hamzah as saying that SOSMA is likely to be re-tabled, although he acknowledged that there was a time crunch as the five-year limit of the provision ends on July 31, 2022.
The re-tabling will thus have to be done early in the next Dewan Rakyat meeting from July 18.
However, it will still not take effect until it is endorsed by the Dewan Negara which will only meet in August.
“August will be too late as it would have expired. We have to see how this can be done,” he said, adding that the matter would be further discussed with legal officers to determine the next course of action. – March 25, 2022
