Two govt whips missing from Sosma vote
Two government whips - the MPs in charge of ensuring party discipline among peers on legislative matters - were absent during the vote on the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) yesterday.
They are...
Editor's note: A previous version of this article had erroneously described Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh as the PAS whip. Malaysiakini regrets the error.
Two government whips - the MPs in charge of ensuring party discipline among peers on legislative matters - were absent during the vote on the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) yesterday.
They were Bersatu supreme council member Azmin Ali (Perikatan Nasional-Gombak) and Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (BN-Bagan Datuk).
On the opposition side, its whip PKR’s Johari Abdul (Pakatan Harapan-Sungai Petani) was also absent.
This was according to the Hansard for yesterday’s Dewan Rakyat sitting which saw a motion to allow the government to enforce 28-day detention without trial period under Sosma for another five years beyond July 31.
After the government lost the vote, several Umno figures, including Zahid, had claimed that the government’s memorandum of understanding with the opposition had collapsed.
However, the record showed that there were 11 MPs from Umno who were absent.
Harapan upheld MOU agreement
The MOU is an agreement in which Harapan promised to not vote against any confidence motion on the prime minister or supply (government budget) bills.
Harapan has upheld it so far by not voting against Budget 2022 nor the supplementary supply bill that was passed on Tuesday.
Based on the Hansard, 50 MPs were absent. Some of them had legitimate reasons, including opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim (Harapan-Port Dickson), Lim Kit Siang (Harapan-Iskandar Puteri) and Abdul Hadi Awang (PN-Marang) who are under quarantine after testing positive for Covid-19.
Both BN and PN had 13 MPs recorded as absent respectively, while Gabungan Parti Sarawak had three absentees.
In all, there were 32 MPs who were listed as absentees on the government bench during the vote in the Hansard.
However, the results were amended in the Dewan Rakyat today.
This is as Mohd Salim Sharif (BN-Jempol), who was the bloc head for counting votes, clarified that he had accidentally marked Idris Jusoh (BN-Besut) as being absent when he had actually voted in favour of the Sosma bill.
Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun accepted the explanation and amended the voting results, to 85-86, meaning the government lost yesterday’s bill by just a single vote.
The full list of absentees, sorted according to coalition (if available) and today’s amendment, are as follows:
Government
Wee Ka Siong (BN-Ayer Hitam)
Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (BN-Bagan Datuk)
Annuar Musa (BN-Ketereh)
Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan)
Shamsul Anuar Nasarah (BN-Lenggong)
Zahidi Zainul Abidin (BN-Padang Besar)
Najib Abdul Razak (BN-Pekan)
Ahmad Maslan (BN-Pontian)
Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor (BN-Putrajaya)
Hasan Arifin (BN-Rompin)
Hishammuddin Hussein (BN-Sembrong)
M Saravanan (BN-Tapah)
Mohd Redzuan Yusof (PN-Alor Gajah)
Kamarudin Jaffar (PN-Bandar Tun Razak)
Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz Syed Abdul Fasal (PN-Bukit Gantang)
Azmin Ali (PN-Gombak)
Eddin Syazlee Shith (PN-Kuala Pilah)
Mohamaddin Ketapi (PN-Lahad Datu)
Abdul Hadi Awang (PN-Marang)
Mansor Othman (PN-Nibong Tebal)
Muhyiddin Yassin (PN-Pagoh)
Ahmad Fadhli Shaari (PN-Pasir Mas)
Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh (PN-Pasir Puteh)
Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz (PN-Tanah Merah)
Shabudin Yahaya (PN-Tasek Gelugor)
Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan (Star-Keningau)
Rohani Abdul Karim (GPS-Batang Lupar)
Tiong King Sing (GPS-Bintulu)
Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (GPS-Santubong)
Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali (Independent-Kuala Nerus)
Maximus Johnity Ongkili (PBS -Kota Marudu)
Opposition
Dr Mahathir Mohamad (Pejuang-Langkawi)
Shahruddin Md Salleh (Pejuang-Sri Gading)
Dr Kelvin Yii (Harapan-Bandar Kuching)
Lim Kit Siang (Harapan-Iskandar Puteri)
Saifuddin Nasution Ismail (Harapan-Kulim Bandar Baharu)
Dr Michael Teo Yu Keng (Harapan-Miri)
Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (Harapan-Pandan)
Nurul Izzah Anwar (Harapan-Permatang Pauh)
Maria Chin Abdullah (Harapan-Petaling Jaya)
Anwar Ibrahim (Harapan-Port Dickson)
Awang Husaini Sahari (Harapan-Putatan)
Maszlee Malik (Harapan-Simpang Renggam)
Johari Abdul (Harapan-Sungai Petani)
Christina Liew (Harapan-Tawau)
Masir Kujat (PSB-Sri Aman)
Ma'mun Sulaiman (Warisan-Kalabakan)
Ahmad Hassan (Warisan-Papar)
Shafie Apdal (Warisan-Semporna)
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