Sack ministers, deputy ministers who were absent during Sosma vote, says Ku Li

IPOH - Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah is calling for the dismissal of Cabinet members who were absent during the voting session of subsection 4(5) of the Security Offenses Act (Special Measures) 2012 (Sosma) last March 23.

Tengku Razaleigh or better known as Ku Li, argued that the motion introduced by the government would have gone through if Cabinet members were present in the Dewan Rakyat at the time.

He stated that it was the parliamentary practice to dismiss ministers and deputies who are not present during a voting session.

“This should not have happened. The Sosma motion is about the security of the country, so how can it be rejected all because a few ministers were not present?

"These ministers must resign immediately. The prime minister must remove ministers and deputy ministers that were not present (during the vote).

"They must be removed from the government as they have acted carelessly. It is a collective responsibility when a motion introduced for national security is not taken seriously,'' he said after officiating the 9th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Gagasan Melayu Perak (GMP) at the Ipoh City Council (MBI) hall here yesterday

Tengku Razaleigh however, admitted that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob was unable to take such drastic actions because his position in the Cabinet at this moment in time is very fragile.

Should Ismail Sabri dismiss Cabinet members, it will result in a loss of support for him to remain as the prime minister said Tengku Razaleigh.

He said that such a thing had never occurred throughout his career as an MP

The government proposal to extend the enforcement period which allows a maximum of 28-day detention without trial had failed to garner enough support in the Dewan Rakyat last March 23.

The motion was submitted by Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin and was debated among 19 MPs.

During the voting session, 85 MPs supported the motion while 86 others rejected it. This does not include the 50 MPs who failed to attend the session.