Its executive director Eric Paulsen urged parliamentarians to reject the home minister’s proposal as there were sufficient powers for the authorities to arrest, detain and investigate any criminal offences under ordinary criminal laws and procedures.
Zahid’s proposed motion on the extension has been listed in the Dewan Rakyat’s order paper as item 10. The Act, which was tabled in 2012, has to be extended every five years to remain as law. The current sitting of the Dewan Rakyat ends on April 6.
Under Sosma, the police have special powers, among others, to arrest and detain any person believed to be involved in security offences for up to 28 days.
Those who are charged under Sosma will also be unable to get bail.
Paulsen said in a statement that since its implementation, Sosma had been prone to abuse. This includes “quelling dissidents” through the politically-motivated harassment and arrest of opposition members and activists.
He said Sosma had been put in place for the purpose of “maintaining public order” and “security”, pursuant to Article 149 of the Federal Constitution.
Article 149, he added, envisaged these measures to be temporary and operative against subversion and dangers to public order.
“Rather than seeking to preserve a dubious security legislation for another five years, we call upon parliamentarians to reject the home minister’s proposal as there are sufficient powers for the authorities to arrest, detain and investigate any criminal offences under ordinary criminal laws and procedures,” added Paulsen.
Saying Sosma was meant to address genuine security offences, Paulsen added that it had become a discredited piece of legislation “easily and unjustifiably enforced upon individuals who in fact should not be subject to severe security provisions”.
He cited several cases of “notable abuses” of Sosma by the authorities, including the detention of Bersih 2.0’s Maria Chin for “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy”.
He said former Umno member Khairuddin Abu Hassan and his lawyer Matthias Chang were arrested under Sosma for sabotage when all they did, respectively, “was to advocate for free and fair elections and lodging reports against 1MDB with international enforcement agencies”.
He said cartoonist Zunar was arrested at his fundraising event and similarly investigated under Sosma.
In addition, Paulsen said, numerous civil society organisations had been subjected to investigations under Sosma.
He said: “Sosma detainees have reported accounts of torture, humiliation, and other cruel and inhuman treatment which are shockingly identical to the experiences of former ISA detainees.
“Such accounts strongly illustrate the sorry state of affairs in our law enforcement agencies, and Sosma cannot be allowed to preserve its current existence as a legal instrument prone to abuse.”