Call to relook Sosma Act
Woman pines for husband detained without chance of bail
GEORGE TOWN: Housewife A. Jastine Jane barely held it together as she recounted the night her husband was arrested under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma).
It was around 1am on July 18 last year when policemen stormed their Ayer Itam home and took away S. Somasundram, 35.
“They told me he would be taken in for 48 hours, and that he was a gangster.
“I was not allowed to see him until about two weeks later,” Jastine, 35, told a press conference held by Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy yesterday.
Her husband was later charged with involvement in organised crime.
Section 13 of Sosma specifies that no bail can be granted. So while the trial drags on, Jastine and her 10-year-old son suffer because Somasundram was the sole breadwinner.
“I am a kidney patient. I cannot work as I require treatment. Since his arrest, we had to move out of our rented home and live with my in-laws.
“I cannot afford tuition for my son, and I’m three months behind on our car payments,” Jastine said, adding that she had yet to tell him that his father is behind bars.
She maintained that her husband, who ran a lorry business, is not involved in organised crime.
Jastine was among 32 people who
attended Ramasamy’s press conference. Each has a family member who is held while their trials are pending.
Ramasamy is calling for Section 13 of Sosma to be repealed as it is akin to the then Internal Security Act which allowed for detention without trial.
“The section keeps people in jail until a decision is made in court.
“If you are charged, you must be tried and allowed bail, but under
Sosma, no one is offered bail,” he said.
As for high-risk criminals, Ramasamy suggested that an electronic monitoring device be attached to their ankles while they waited for their trials to be settled.
“Most of them come from low income families and are the sole breadwinners,” he said.
Sosma was introduced to provide for special measures relating to security offences to maintain public
order and security as a replacement to the ISA.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had pledged to abolish several restrictive laws such as Sosma when Pakatan Harapan won the general election.
Malaysian Tamil Kural president David Marshel and secretary M. Satees, who were present, said they would send a petition, signed by family members of Sosma detainees, to Parliament on July 19.