Parliament told Sosma only for terrorism, says Gobind

'IGP and Attorney-General should read up on debates in Dewan Rakyat'.

KUALA LUMPUR: The DAP has reminded the police that Parliament was told that the security law Sosma was meant for use against terrorists and extremists and not against the common people.

Gobind Singh Deo, head of the party’s legal bureau, said the current use of the law against 1MDB critic Khairuddin Abu Hassan and his lawyer Matthias Chang created a dangerous precedent which could lead to further abuse in the future.

He questioned whether the Attorney-General could invoke the use of Sosma provisions in ordinary cases which could be tried under the Penal Code.

Gobind, who is MP for Puchong, said de facto law minister Nazri Aziz, when tabling the Bill in Parliament, had explained that the law was aimed at terrorist groups and had given Islamic State and Al Qaeda as examples.

He quoted Nazri’s remarks in the Dewan Rakyat when he said that the law was meant for cases “out of the ordinary” and that Sosma was different from ordinary criminal laws. The “special measures” were called for, in exceptional circumstances when combating terrorism, Nazri had said.

He said the Attorney-General and the Inspector-General of Police should read up the parliamentary debates on Sosma and would then realise that they were wrong in their interpretation of the law. “Using it against people for ordinary crime is an abuse of process,” he said.