Deputy minister Shamsul Anuar Nasarah said this in the Dewan Rakyat today, following the Federal Court’s ruling in April 2022 that Sections 4 and 15B of Poca are inconsistent with the Federal Constitution.

He said the ministry had already conducted several rounds of consultations, including presenting the proposed amendments to the Cabinet on Dec 13 last year.

This was followed by a special consultation session in February this year involving the law and institutional reform minister, digital minister, government officials, MPs as well as NGOs, he said.

“Taking into account the feedback from the February session, the ministry conducted a follow-up workshop in March to gather further views from stakeholders.

“The results of the workshop were presented to the home minister (Saifuddin Nasution Ismail) at a briefing in April,” he said in response to Chow Yu Hui (PH-Raub) who asked for a detailed timeline for amending Poca.

Shamsul said the minister had asked for further consultations with the related ministers “in the near future” before a revised proposal is submitted to the Cabinet.

“If these discussions yield a positive outcome, the proposed amendments are expected to be tabled at the first meeting of the fourth parliamentary session.”

In April last year, the apex court ruled that Section 4 and Section 15B of Poca were unconstitutional as they violated the doctrine of separation of powers by intruding into the judicial domain.

Section 15B, which is an ouster clause, restricts judges from enquiring into the grounds of a suspect’s detention.

The legislation was previously met with strong objections from various segments of civil society on the basis that it violated human rights and was open to abuse by the authorities.