Ramasamy to organise nationwide campaign to free Sosma detainees

DAP leader P Ramasamy will organise a nationwide campaign to urge the government to abolish the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) and free the more than 100 detainees held under the law.

The Penang deputy chief minister, who is also the DAP state vice-chairperson, said this is because the law is draconian and has left many languishing in jail, awaiting trial without a set time frame.

He urged Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail to release Sosma detainees first while the government could review the law later as it is cruel to lock them up for 28 months without trial, as in the case of detainees from Sungai Petani.

“We will organise a nationwide campaign to get people’s support and to attract the government’s attention to abolish Sosma. No matter which government rules, the draconian law is unjust and not required in Malaysia,” he said.

Ramasamy said this in Komtar after meeting the families of 33 Sosma detainees from Sungai Petani, who have been held since September 2020.

“It is unfair to hold the detainees without trial and they have been in custody for the last 28 months. They were the sole breadwinners of the affected families. Charge them or release them,” he said.

He said the Pakatan Harapan coalition was in support of abolishing Sosma before 15th general election, but its stand is now unclear after forming the coalition government with BN.

“We have sufficient laws including the Criminal Procedure Code and Penal Code, and they should be charged if police have the evidence. It is the height of cruelty to detain the detainees for 28 months.”

Not a national security threat

Social activist and Malaysian Thamilar Kural Association president David Marshel also said the detainees are not national security threats and urged the government to release them.

“Sosma allows the detention of people who are a threat to the nation. These people are believed to have been involved in secret societies and other crimes but they were held under Sosma.

“In these cases it shows that the police are arresting people first instead of looking for evidence.

“We do not say all of them are innocent, but there are innocents among them. Charge them if police have the evidence, but don’t hold them under Sosma and then look for evidence,” he said.

The Sosma detainees were nabbed in September 2020 and are currently being tried at the Sungai Petani High Court under Section 130v(1) of the Penal Code for allegedly being members of an organised crime group.

The hearing for the 33 detainees was held at the Sungai Petani High Court on Dec 18 and 19 last year, and the trial has been fixed for April 19, and 20 and May 17, 24 and 25 this year.

However, their families expressed unhappiness as the hearing was again postponed and they pleaded for the immediate release of the detainees.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) Ramkarpal Singh last month said that the government has agreed to look into certain provisions in Sosma and will engage with the relevant stakeholders, but there has been no progress in the matter yet. - Mkini