The Petaling Jaya MP told FMT that she was admitted to Beacon Hospital in Petaling Jaya after suffering a dizzy spell and breathlessness. She was discharged today.

Maria’s absence in the Dewan Rakyat was noted as she had, just the day before, issued a statement urging all opposition MPs to vote against the motion to extend a sub-section of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) for another five years.

The sub-section enables police to detain a person suspected of being involved in terrorist activities for up to 28 days for investigations.

As someone who had been arrested under Sosma in 2016, Maria was elated that the government’s motion was defeated.

She insisted, however, that she would prefer if Sosma was abolished altogether.

“Bear in mind that we did not get rid of Sosma, just the part where they wanted to extend the sunset clause,” she said referring to the sub-section that must be extended by Parliament every five years.

“Even without this sub-section, detainees can still be held for up to 14 days before being brought to court. Sosma is still part of our law,” she said when contacted.

On Wednesday, the motion, tabled by home minister Hamzah Zainudin, was defeated with 85 MPs voting in favour, 86 against and the remaining 49 absent.

Apart from Maria, it was reported that several ministers were also absent, including senior ministers Azmin Ali and Hishammuddin Hussein, as well as law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, human resources minister M Saravanan, and communications and multimedia minister Annuar Musa.

Meanwhile, a source told FMT that Hishammuddin is currently overseas.