Putrajaya should take the blame for the defeat of the motion on the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) and not pin the loss on opposition lawmakers, Anthony Loke said.
In his first parliamentary debate as DAP’s secretary-general, Loke said he did not expect the government to lose the vote as it counts on more than 114 MPs among its ranks.
“Despite the support it has from these MPs, only 84 showed up to vote while 30 others were absent and this included Pekan (Najib Razak), Bagan Datuk (Ahmad Zahid Hamidi), and several others,” he said during the debate on the constitutional amendment bill today.
“The 30 who did not show up were the ones who failed to pass the amendment so do not blame us (the opposition),” he said.
Although it could not be established why most of the 30 were not present, what could be confirmed is that Najib was in court for his role in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal.
Loke also responded to claims that Pakatan Harapan (PH) lawmakers had nullified the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between PH and Putrajaya because they voted against the Sosma amendment.
He said that several Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs, including Umno’s Ketereh MP Tan Sri Annuar Musa, only partially read Article 3.3b of the MoU.
“Article 3.3b indicated that only when a Bill has been discussed with us beforehand, in this context the motion yesterday was not discussed with us prior to it being brought to Parliament.
“The Act is still in effect, the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) 2012 was not repealed, it’s still here.
“We only objected to the motion to extend Sub-section 4(5) of the Sosma Act,” Loke said.
“But does it mean that the Sosma motion was rejected and caused YB Bera’s (Ismail Sabri) loss of confidence? The answer is no,” he added.
“Our obligation is to approve Budget 2022, which we did, and we did not call for bloc voting throughout last year’s debate.
“If anyone disputes this or there is a question regarding Bera losing confidence, bring a motion of confidence, we will be neutral and the motion will be approved. So, the question of motion of confidence does not arise at all,” Loke said.
Loke said it was a parliamentary victory that the opposition won yesterday as it proved that not all motions or bills brought by the executive can be approved and showed that Parliament is not a rubber stamp.
Earlier report:
Mar 23, Dewan Rakyat rejects motion to extend ‘detention without trial’ clause in Sosma