Hanipa Maidin said he “totally disagreed” with Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla to use Sosma even “against our rivals”.

“I can speak on behalf of Amanah. We abhor Sosma. Hence, we cannot accept at all any idea of using Sosma even against our rivals.

“Our political rivals are bad but Sosma is worse,” the Sepang MP and former deputy law minister told FMT in a text message.

In a Facebook posting on Monday, Haniff said those in authority should be investigated for activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy, an offence under the Penal Code which carried a jail term of up to 20 year if convicted.

Haniff backed his argument by citing a list of events and government actions.

These included the government’s failure to hold parliamentary sittings, refusal to table the EOs in Parliament or answer questions related to the matter, allegedly misleading the Dewan Rakyat, and allegedly making a rude response to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s rebuke on the issue.

He also said Sosma, which is a procedural security law, could be used to investigate the offence.

Under Sosma, a suspect can be held by police for a maximum of 28 days and those charged could be denied bail unless one is aged below 18, a woman, sick or an infirm.

The government has come under heavy criticism over the revocation of the EOs, made under the state of Emergency, which expired on Aug 1.