SOSMA victims to be compensated by government? Putrajaya pays Maria Chin RM25,000 in damages for unlawful arrest under Sosma

VICTORY...

Finally, an acknowledgement of the wrongs and injustice brought about by SOSMA - when SOSMA victim Maria Chin was compensated for the wrong done to her...

The government has agreed to pay RM25,000 in damages and RM5,000 in costs to Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah over her detention in 2016 under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma).

It is a positive step taken by the PH government ....so, we wait impatiently to see when will all the rest of the SOSMA victims be compensated? 

Surely, to be entitled to compensation, these victims should not be required to start legal actions suing the government....the government should proactively arrange compensation for all victims of SOSMA...if there is no such announcement from the government....THEN maybe all SOSMA victims should just commence legal action against the government, and get compensated for the sufferings brought about by SOSMA...

Or was it just a government pay out attempting to 'silence' MP Maria Chin (that stood on a Pakatan Harapan ticket), a strong advocate for the repeal of SOSMA and Detention Without Trial Laws like POCA and POTA? I do not believe that Maria will stop her quest to get SOSMA, POCA and all such draconian laws repealed. She will not be SILENCED - she will fight hard to uphold the cause of justice...until all draconian laws are repealed..

HURRY ...hurry all you victims of SOSMA, it is time to get your compensation for being arrested, detained, denied bail...under SOSMA....

Why do governments like to get a Consent Judgment?

Well, a written judgment of the court can be relied by others in claiming justice. So, when the government believes that they will or may lose, then the government will try to get a consent judgment recorded. If a consent judgment is recorded, then the judge will not have to deliver a judgment - and there will be no written judgment...

It would have been better for Maria to proceed with the case, and get a judgment from court. That judgment would have been most valuable for all other victims of SOSMA...a judgment that they can rely on, that may also also have set the rate of compensation that one should justly be entitled to...

But the choice that Maria made was her choice - and the fact that the government was willing to pay compensation and cost ...is admission of unjust SOSMA and entitlement of all victims..

“By consent, the government defendant — the government of Malaysia, the minister of home affairs and IGP (inspector-general of police) — has agreed to pay RM25,000 in damages and RM5,000 in cost.

Putrajaya pays Maria Chin RM25,000 in damages for unlawful arrest under Sosma

Published 6 days ago on 18 February 2019

By Ida Nadirah Ibrahim

Maria filed a suit last August, claiming that her 10-day detention from November 18, 2016 was not justified under the law. — Picture by Razak Ghazali

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 — The government has agreed to pay RM25,000 in damages and RM5,000 in costs to Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah over her detention in 2016 under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma).

Her lawyer Gurdial Singh Nijar said the case was settled today through a consent judgment before High Court judge Datuk Nik Hasmat Nik Mohamad.

“By consent, the government defendant — the government of Malaysia, the minister of home affairs and IGP (inspector-general of police) — has agreed to pay RM25,000 in damages and RM5,000 in cost.

“This is limited to the facts of the case in respect to the Sosma detention,” he told Malay Mail when contacted.

He said the settlement was agreed without admission of liability.

Maria had filed a suit last August, claiming that her 10-day detention from November 18, 2016 was not justified under the law.

The former Bersih 2.0 chairman said the arrest, which took place on the eve of the Bersih 5 rally, was cruel and oppressive.

She was held in solitary confinement in a 15 feet by 8 feet windowless cell, and was denied a bed, in what she described as an “ISA-style detention”. - Malay Mail, 18/2/2019

Former Bersih chief Maria lambasts decision to retain Sosma and Poca

Khairil Ashraf

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December 31, 2018 4:27 PM

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Maria wants to know whether the proposed amendments to Poca and Sosma will allow detainees to have access to their lawyers and family.

PETALING JAYA: Former Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah has expressed disappointment over Putrajaya’s decision to maintain two security laws that were under scrutiny from its leaders in the past.

This comes after the home minister’s statement that the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) and the Prevention of Crime Act (Amendment) or (Poca) will be kept with some amendments.

“If the current laws are not maintained, there will be those who think they are free to do anything and threaten the country through gangsterism and terrorism,” Muhyiddin Yassin said yesterday.

“That is why we use the current laws with the police and other authorities implementing them fully,” he said.

Speaking to FMT, Maria, who is a vocal critic of similar “draconian” laws, claimed that Sosma and Poca are “weak” legislation which cannot be amended as they impose detentions without trials.

“Will he (Muhyiddin) get rid of (having) arrest without trials and the power for the police to detain (those charged under Poca or Sosma) for 28 days without trial,” Maria, who is the Petaling Jaya MP, asked.

Maria, who was detained for her role in leading the Bersih 5 rally in 2016, asked whether the proposed amendments to Poca and Sosma would allow detainees to have access to their lawyers and family.

She recalled how she had access to her lawyers and family members only on her first day of detention when she was detained under Sosma for 11 days that year in November.

Under Sosma, a person can be detained for a maximum of 28 days and police can delay his access to family and legal counsel for up to 48 hours after the arrest.

A person can be detained without trial for 60 days under Poca and there is a provision for a two-year extension. Poca detainees are put either in detention centres or under house arrest with electronic devices attached to them.

The government had earlier imposed a moratorium on Sosma and Poca, as well as on two other laws, the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) and the controversial Sedition Act.

Since coming to power in the May polls, the Pakatan Harapan government (PH), of which Maria is a part of, has assured that these four laws would be reviewed and if necessary abolished.

But early this month, the Cabinet agreed to allow police to probe the violence at the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Selangor under these laws and removed the moratorium.

According to its election manifesto, Poca, the Sedition Act and Sosma, as well as the mandatory death sentence in all existing laws, will be abolished by the end of its first term as the ruling government.

Meanwhile, vocal human rights lawyers N Surendran and Latheefa Koya from NGO Lawyers for Liberty questioned PH’s “U-turn” on the decision, and urged Muhyiddin not to go back on the promise.

“Poca allowed detention without trial like the Internal Security Act (ISA). It should not be used anymore.

“He should stop listening to certain elements in the police force and home ministry who want Poca to be retained,” said Surendran.

Unaware of proposed amendments, both Surendran and Latheefa asked how the “unjust” Sosma would be amended, adding if the said act was amended, it must eliminate all detentions and “unfair trials”. - FMT, 31/12/2018