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Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah does not believe that Sarawak should be affected by the emergency due to its low number of cases. – Photo by Chimon Upon
KUCHING (Oct 23): Sarawak does not need to be affected by a national emergency if Putrajaya declared it due to the continued increase in Covid-19 cases, said Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
He said the federal cabinet has to study the current rate of new Covid-19 cases in Sarawak before they include Sarawak.
Abdul Karim considered that the state of emergency should not be imposed in Sarawak if there were only one or two cases a day.
However, if the number of cases in Sarawak were three or four digits a day, the state should be included in an emergency, he said.
“So we can say that the pandemic is out of control in Sarawak, so we have to declare a state of emergency,” he said in response to speculation that a special federal cabinet meeting today had discussed the declaration of an emergency.
Abdul Karim warned that if a general emergency were imposed across the country, even the state legislature and parliament would be suspended.
“I just hope this (emergency) is just speculation,” he said.
Abdul Karim also said that an emergency should not be imposed to address the political situation.
“If it is for fear of the vote of no confidence, I do not think that is the reason for the state of emergency to be imposed. This is how I see it personally, ”he said.
Speaking to journalists after signing a memorandum of understanding regarding the development of the Bintulu hydrogen plant, Abdul Karim believed that an emergency could only be declared in certain circumstances, such as war, major natural disaster or riots. racial.
That said, he expressed doubts that the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia was now at a level where the emergency should be considered.
“But then it’s up to the federal government, it has to find good reasons to declare any state of emergency.
“And yes, in the event that the emergency is imposed, it can be imposed only in Peninsular Malaysia, or only in a Peninsular Malaysian state or only in Sabah.
“It may not have to be in the whole country because we have seen through the years since independence where the emergency was imposed only in Kelantan, in Sarawak during the haze and in 1969 after the race riots in Peninsular Malaysia”, He said.
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