On April 7, Malaysians woke up to news of a new law allowing detention without trial of suspected terrorists, with no judicial oversight, being passed.

Much of the outcry was not so much because the law was open to abuse , but because it was passed with a vote that was less than the total number of Pakatan Rakyat MPs.

The bill was passed 79 votes to 60, when there are 86 Pakatan MPs.

Many felt that Pakatan could have defeated the Prevention of Terrorism Bill (Pota) had there not been absenteeism and that the absentees were as villainous as those who tabled and passed the bill.

Others believe this is misplaced, given that BN could call for reinforcements whenever Pakatan MPs show up in force, as they had done in the past.

However, absenteeism from crucial votes at the Dewan Rakyat begs the question of whether all Pakatan MPs are truly committed to being a meaningful opposition and fulfilling the mandate given to keep the government in check and put their objections on record.

On Friday, after several days of research, Malaysiakini published a list of MPs that had either admitted to being absent or were suspected of being absent during the final vote on Pota.

During the research process, it was found that there were a number of MPs that had legitimate reasons to be absent or skip the vote which dragged on the 2.25am.

Severe illness

Several, like PKR’s Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh are seriously ill. In February, it was reported that she is battling cancer. Not all cases of serious illnesses can be mentioned in this article due to privacy reasons.

PAS’ Tumpat MP Kamaruddin Jaafar had to attend to family matters, including a three-year-old child, after his wife was hospitalised. He had sought permission from PAS party deputy whip Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad to be excused from the sitting.

Others were just feeling ill that particular night. One of them was PAS’ Kota Raja MP Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud (right) , who even showed her medical chit.

Another was DAP’s Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang, one of most prolific MPs in the country and a senior parliamentarian.

According to DAP whip Anthony Loke, the 74-year-old was feeling under the weather that day and was at the Dewan Rakyat between 7.30pm and 10.30pm.

PKR’s Wangsa Maju MP Tan Kwee Keong revealed that he was still recovering from a brain surgery. He was reported to have suffered a stroke late February.

Despite their circumstances, Kamaruddin, Siti Mariah, Tan and Lim all voted on another crucial bill - the amendments to the Sedition Act 1948 - when the vote was called at 2.30am Friday.

According to Lim's minders, he retired to his Parliament office because he was still ill, and entered the House later to vote.

Other obligations

But perhaps one of the most interesting story for skipping the final Pota vote was that from DAP’s Kampar MP Dr Ko Chung Sen.

Ko was in Parliament until midnight, two hours before the final vote and was compelled to leave because he had to perform a surgery on a critically ill patient at 9am in Ipoh on Tuesday.

After the surgery, Ko appeared again in Parliament on Tuesday. On Friday morning, he stayed back until the final vote against the bill to amend the Sedition Act and performed another surgery on the same patient that afternoon.

"I operated on the patient without lunch. I was near collapse. We nearly lost the patient," Ko, who is one of Malaysia's few cardiothoracic surgeon, told Malaysiakini.

Others like PAS’ Pasir Mas MP Nik Aziz Nik Abduh said he left because he had prior engagements.

PAS' Rantau Panjang MP, who left earlier that night because she did not feel well, said she was not informed there was a bloc vote.

Readers can examine the reasons the MPs missed the final Pota vote by referring to the list below.

Additional reporting by Alyaa Azhar and Aidila Razak

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