It’s okay if Ramasamy is unhappy with my comments on Sosma, says Dr M
The prime minister says he is satisfied with the explanation given by the police on the arrests.
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has again defended the use of the Special Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) in the arrest of 12 individuals over alleged links to the defunct Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) group.
Speaking to reporters after an event here today, Mahathir said he had been briefed by the police on the arrests and was satisfied with their explanation.
He also responded to Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy, who was reported as saying by Malaysiakini yesterday that the prime minister’s defence of the arrests under Sosma was “hard to swallow” as Pakatan Harapan had vowed to abolish the act.
Ramasamy also said that Mahathir himself had been critical of Sosma in the past.
But Mahathir said today that circumstances were different.
“We don’t want to simply arrest people. There are reasons,” he said after launching a medical device conference and exhibition at Mitec here.
“If Ramasamy is unhappy, it’s okay. He can say he is not satisfied.
“The fact is, this happened and there are reasons for it.”
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The 12 individuals arrested over alleged links to LTTE include two assemblymen from DAP: Melaka exco member and Gadek assemblyman G Saminathan and Seremban Jaya assemblyman P Gunasekaran.