Malaysian govt prepared to return to king, ask for state of emergency if necessary

KUALA LUMPUR — The Perikatan Nasional government will advise King Al-Sultan Abdullah to declare an emergency order if there is a necessity, said Malaysian Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law) Takiyuddin Hassan.

“If we think it’s necessary, we will consider it, if not for the whole country then any parts thereof,” he told Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (Nov 5).

“The government recently advised the king to invoke a state of emergency for the whole country because of 20 reasons given by the cabinet.

“Article 150 (of the federal constitution) clearly states that the king has the power to declare a state of emergency across the whole country or any parts thereof. From a constitutional perspective, this is allowed,” he added.

However, the Malaysian king decided there was no need to enforce a state of emergency at all because the government was already performing well in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Takiyuddin, the MP for Kota Baru, was responding to a question from Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim about whether the Malaysian government will seek another emergency order to stop the by-election or state elections in Batu Sapi and Sarawak respectively.

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin recently said that the elections in Batu Sapi and Sarawak could be postponed if there was a state of emergency.

Meanwhile, no gatherings or ceramah will be allowed during the Batu Sapi by-election on Dec 5, said Mr Takiyuddin.

“Candidates for the Batu Sapi by-election will be asked to campaign on social media, and print and broadcast media only.

“The Election Commission is prepared to bar all ceramah and gatherings so that it can stem the rise in Covid-19 cases,” he said, adding that the recent elections in Sabah had cost the Malaysian government RM130 million (S$42.5 million), after a question on election finances by Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng.

Sabah saw a spike in Covid-19 cases following the state elections, now accounting for 16,873 cases and 131 deaths. THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT