Sosma not meant to be political tool, says Gani

'There may be flaws, but laws can be amended.'

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail has defended the controversial Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) as a response against security threats while acknowledging that it could be flawed.

Speaking at a forum last night, Gani said he believed Sosma was important for the security of the country.

It was never meant to be used for political reasons, he added.

“The trouble with laws is in their interpretation and implementation,” he said. “There may be flaws, but as we have experienced, laws are amended along the way.”

He described Sosma as one of the “special laws” drafted to deal with the need to maintain national security in the face of terrorist threats.

“Our response to threats to national security is two-fold – to combat and destroy terrorism as well as to arrest and prosecute terrorists,” he said. “In such special cases, we need special laws.”

He pointed out that Sosma, unlike the Internal Security Act, imposes a limit on how long a person can be detained, which is 28 days.

He also pointed out that it is Parliament that passes laws and not the Attorney-General(AG).

“Yes the AG’s Chamber will draft laws after discussions with various agencies, which will then be put up for approval in the Cabinet,” he said. “But at the end of the day, it’s the Parliament that passes it.”

Referring to the case of Umno dissenter Khairuddin Abu Hassan and his lawyer Matthias Chang, Gani said he didn’t know enough of the details to comment on whether it was right to use Sosma against them.

But he added: “No one is above the law, not even lawyers, attorney-generals or ex-attorney generals.”