Ramkarpal confirms Sosma to stay

The coalition government led by Pakatan Harapan (PH) has no plan to repeal the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act, or Sosma, despite its past calls to abolish the law.

Instead, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Ramkarpal Singh said his ministry is looking into "improvements".

"Repeal is not in the pipeline, but we are looking into improvements," he told reporters today.

The DAP leader had been among PH politicians at the forefront of calls to repeal the law, which, among others, was used against a group of party members accused of links to Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Following the arrests in 2019, Ramkarpal urged the PH government, then led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, to keep its promise to repeal the law.

Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail had previously said Sosma would not be reviewed, comparing its provisions to those of the Internal Security Act, which was abolished by the previous Barisan Nasional government.

Ramkarpal said today that recommendations on the improvements would be presented to the home ministry, adding that there was no timeline set.

He said there are two main proposals at the moment, one of which is allowing bail for detainees.