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UPDATED 7.35PM | Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah has accepted an emergency proclamation in Batu Sapi, Sabah.
“After considering (refine) the explanation of the Prime Minister and the briefings of the Chief Secretary of the Government Zuki Ali, the Attorney General Idrus Harun, the Director General of Health, Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah and the President of the Electoral Commission (EC) Abdul Ghani Salleh, Su Majesty was satisfied that there was a need for a Declaration for an Emergency Proclamation under Article 150 (1) of the Federal Constitution to cancel the Batu Sapi by-elections.
“With this proclamation, any proceedings for the Batu Sapi by-election will be suspended to prevent a fourth wave of Covid-19 and a new date for the by-election will be determined.
“His Royal Majesty has therefore accepted the emergency proclamation for P185 Batu Sapi, Sabah, as a proactive measure to curb the Covid-19 outbreak,” Royal Household Comptroller Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin said today in a release.
The nomination day for the Batu Sapi by-elections was originally scheduled for Monday next week. The by-elections were called after the death of their incumbent Liew Vui Keong last month.
Later, during a live broadcast, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin assured that the livelihood of the Batu Sapi people would not be affected after the emergency proclamation.
“The emergency proclamation is only to suspend and postpone the by-elections to safeguard the lives of the people.
“The livelihoods of the people of Batu Sapi will not be affected. There is no curfew and no army administration in Batu Sapi.
“Government administration, economic and social activities will continue in accordance with new regulatory practices and standard operating procedures (SOP) under the conditional motion control order,” Muhyiddin said.
Muhyiddin had outlined five reasons to prevent Batu Sapi’s by-elections from taking place.
First, learning from the recent Sabah rapid polls that had triggered the third wave of the outbreak in the country, Muhyiddin said the by-elections would pose a threat to the public’s health.
“Although the EC could introduce strict SOPs, poor compliance with the SOPs (as seen in the state election campaign) would make it difficult to contain the outbreak,” he said.
Second, EC staff were concerned about their health, resulting in EC managing to hire only 143 employees compared to the 837 employees needed for the Batu Sapi by-elections.
Then inter-district movement between EC staff and voters could not be prevented and this would increase the risk of a Covid-19 outbreak in other Sabah districts, he said.
Fourth, Muhyiddin said that senior voters, who comprise 7,377 people or 22.3 percent of voters over the age of 60, would be at risk.
For the record, there are 32,962 registered voters in Batu Sapi.
For the record, according to EC data, there are 32,962 registered voters in Batu Sapi, where 3,170 whose addresses are outside the constituency, including in West and East Malaysia.
A total of 16,000 voters have a general address without a house number, making voting by mail difficult.
Lastly, he said that the possible outbreak would affect the social and economic activities of the people of Batu Sapi and Sandakan.
