Ramkarpal: Abolishing Sosma not in pipeline, govt to improve it instead

The government has no intention to repeal the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act which allows detention without trial for 28 days.

Instead, according to Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Ramkarpal Singh, Putrajaya aims to improve the law by introducing several amendments in stages.

"It's not in the pipeline. But we are looking at improvements," he told reporters in Putrajaya this morning when asked if there is any plan to abolish Sosma.

Ramkarpal said the ministry has completed the groundwork in reviewing the act, which included engagement sessions with stakeholders.

While there is no timeline set for the review, the deputy minister said they plan to bring proposals from the engagement sessions to the cabinet soon.

"There is no timeline as such, but as I said, our groundworks are more or less completed. Now we are preparing the summary.

"At this stage, we plan to bring up two main proposals to the cabinet for Sosma improvements. These (the improvements) will not be done at one go, but perhaps in several stages," he said.

The two main proposals include improving Sosma on the question of bail, added Ramkarpal.

Controversial law

Sosma is a controversial law which allows up to 28 days of detention.

While the government has said it was planning to review Sosma provisions, human rights activists have been pushing for a complete repeal.

Last month, about 100 family members of 69 Sosma detainees launched a hunger strike outside the Sungai Buloh Prison to demand the release of their family members, who are imprisoned without trial.

About 34 detainees are reportedly being held at Sungai Buloh while the remainder are in Alor Setar, Kedah.

Following this, Ramkarpal urged them to remain patient as the government is reviewing improvements to the act.

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