The Malaysian government will repeal laws that are oppressive, especially the Security Offences Act (Sosma) , Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said. He was speaking at the Coalition of Klang Chinese Associations Tabung Harapan fund-raising dinner on Sunday night, the Strait Times reports.  Responding to Mahathir’s announcement, civil liberties lawyer Syahzedzan Johan said in a statement that Soswa was a law intended to address security offences including terrorism, but it had failed to balance this objective with the rights of a suspect as they were sentenced before being charged in court for any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, Crime Prevention Foundation senior vice-chairman Lee Lam Thye suggested that Mahathir obtain feedback from the police and other stakeholders in order to ensure that the proposed abolition of the act would not result in a spike in crime rates.