The preventive detention powers under Security Offences (Special Measurement) Act 2012 (Sosma) is up for review in July next year, but Putrajaya is already seeking to extend such powers for another five years.
Section 4(5) of the law allows a police officer of or above the rank of superintendent to extend the period of detention to not more than 28 days to facilitate the investigation, after an initial 24-hour detention period.
This provision is subject to review by Parliament every five years and has been in force since July 31, 2012.
According to the Dewan Rakyat order paper, a motion will be tabled by the home minister to extend the enforcement of Section 4(5) for another five years, beginning July 31, 2017.
As the Dewan Rakyat sitting for this year will end tomorrow, it is likely that the debate stage would only take place during the next sitting in March.
Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed said tabling the motion now was a procedural matter.
"We can table any time before the power expires... Sosma is renewable every five years," Nur Jazlan told Malaysiakini when met at the Parliament lobby yesterday.
Sosma has been criticised as a reincarnation of the Internal Security Act 1969 (ISA), a preventive detention law that was once liberally used on opposition leaders and activists.
Most recently, Sosma was applied on Maria Chin Abdullah, the leader of electoral reform pressure group Bersih.
Her lawyers claim that she was being kept in solitary confinement, in a tiny windowless cell with no bed.
Her family is attempting to free her with the filing of a habeas corpus application in the High Court.
Police are also investigating Maria under Section 124C of the Penal Code, for engaging in activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy.- Mkini
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