The SOSMA vote of confidence for Ismail Sabri
The opposition is opposed to detention without trial, so it is bewildering that they did not take the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone in yesterday’s parliament vote. Whatever it may be, this vote shows Ismail Sabri has more support than the anti-Ismail Sabri group in Umno gives him credit for.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
The extension of the SOSMA in parliament yesterday — with 105 votes for, 83 against, and 32 abstentions (or absenties) — can be viewed as a ‘backdoor’ vote of confidence for prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
There are currently 220 MPs (out of 222 parliamentary constituencies), so a vote of 111 against would have defeated the SOSMA extension, and hence would have proven the prime minister does not have the support of the majority in parliament.
The opposition is opposed to detention without trial, so it is bewildering that they did not take the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone in yesterday’s parliament vote. Whatever it may be, this vote shows Ismail Sabri has more support than the anti-Ismail Sabri group in Umno gives him credit for.
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(The Star) – Opposition Parti Warisan says it bears no blame for the passing of the extension of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) in Parliament on Wednesday (July 20).
Its deputy president Datuk Darell Leiking said even if all seven Warisan MPs voted, it would not have made a difference to the final vote where 105 MPs supported the motion with 83 against. A total of 32 MPs were absent.
“Why blame us? Where were your ‘strong, formidable numbers’?” Leiking asked in response to PKR’s Subang Jaya MP Wong Chen’s social media post blaming Warisan MPs for the reason the Opposition lost.
Leiking said Wong should be asking why his party MPs were not present instead of blaming Warisan.
Leiking, the Penampang MP, and Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, who is Semporna MP, were attending the Sabah state assembly sitting.
Speaking to reporters here after Thursday’s (July 21) assembly sitting, Leiking said some Warisan MPs were, however, in Parliament at the time of the Sosma vote.
Mohd Shafie, who was also at the press conference, said: “Don’t ask why Warisan did not attend when (your) own MPs were absent.”
The passing of the Sosma motion on Wednesday will pave the way for the Home Ministry to retable a motion to extend Sosma, which is set to expire on July 31.
The retabling was needed to revoke the previous motion in March that MPs voted against.
