Abdul Gani cited the record of Parliamentary proceedings in the Hansard, where Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said in his speech to promote the then SOSMA Bill that the government will set up such a committee after it comes into effect.
Those concerned about SOSMA should be asking for the safeguards that are aimed at preventing the law from being abused, he said.
“You should be asking where is the committee and with the committee comes Suhakam to do the checks and balance, this is something good and that was a good thing that he has promised,” Abdul Gani said during a forum last night, referring to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia by its Malay abbreviation.
Steven Thiru, the current Malaysian Bar president who was also speaking at the forum, noted that the committee has yet to be formed.
“I think sometimes he needs to be reminded. I think it’s up to you, Mr President, to bring this up,” Abdul Gani responded.
The former top government lawyer said the Hansard showed Najib had promised the committee to review the entire SOSMA from time to time and monitor its implementation, with panel members to comprise of the relevant agencies, the Bar Council president and Suhakam.
In his same presentation on SOSMA, Abdul Gani had also read out the prime minister’s five other promised safeguards for the 2012 law aimed at tackling terrorism offences and allowing a further detention of suspects, without trial, for 28 days for investigative purposes.
The pledged safeguards include the right to meet a lawyer not more than 48 hours after arrest, a requirement for a suspect’s next of kin to be informed of the detention under SOSMA as soon as possible, he said.
Besides the stated assurance that SOSMA will not be used against individuals over their political beliefs, Abdul Gani said Najib had in his speech also said that the law will have a sunset clause where the legislation will lapse if Parliament does not renew it every five years.
He added that the people’s power through elections due every five years will be safeguards.
Abdul Gani, who had been in office when SOSMA was drafted to include the controversial 28-day additional preventive detention clause, sought to explain that even the UK had reverted to this option after mulling a 14-day detention period for a similar law.
He pointed out that “nobody” could tell him the rationale behind the 28-day period.
“But the reality is at that particular time, because of the insurgency, because of the threats, there was a need to draft that and the best advice given to us was for 28 days,” he said.
He added later that the Attorney-General’s Chambers does not simply put up proposed legislations but drafts such Bills based on feedback from the relevant government agencies.
Steven later said during a question-and-answer session that the Malaysian Bar had previously recommended that the further detention period under SOSMA be split up into two blocs, with a judge to review the investigation progress after 14 days to ensure that the 28-day detention is not abused and investigative work is genuinely carried out.
Abdul Gani was a speaker at a Bar Council’s forum titled “SOSMA: Wolf in sheep’s clothing?” to discuss the 2012 law that was meant to replace the now-abolished Internal Security Act (ISA) 1960.
In his presentation at the same forum, criminal lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad said that the ISA which allowed for indefinite detention without trial was oppressive before charging, while SOSMA is oppressive after someone has been charged as they would be deprived of a fair trial and not subject to the normal and stricter evidence rules.
SOSMA has come under scrutiny again after it was recently used to detain 1Malaysia Development Berhad critic Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan and his lawyer Matthias Chang on September 23 and October 8.
Both were later charged on October 12 with attempting to sabotage the country’s banking and financial systems through visits to five foreign authorities in relation to the state-owned investment company.
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