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COMMENTARY The | While Malaysia finds itself at a crossroads with its government doing its best to balance life and livelihood during this difficult time, history seems to repeat itself when the country is once again on the brink of a political crisis with politicians still trying to play their part. . Game of Thrones by calling for a vote of mistrust against the government amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Let’s review the situation when politicians first played their political game in late February. At the time, Covid-19 was just an outbreak that the World Health Organization (WHO) had not yet declared a pandemic.
From February 15 to 27, the total number of infections remained at 22 cases before reaching 25 cases on February 28. This means that there were zero new infections from February 16 to 27 (a total of 12 days of zero new cases) before new infections rose to three cases on February 28.
Remember that from February 24 to March 1, those were the days when politicians enacted the Game of Thrones, resulting in a political crisis that ended with a new Prime Minister duly sworn in on March 1. There was nothing extraordinary then because on March 1, new Covid-19 cases increased by four, producing total infections in 29 cases, and new cases thereafter were still at a single-digit figure.
What was extraordinary then was the resignation of Dr. Mahathir Mohamad on February 24 as Prime Minister and his immediate appointment as Acting Prime Minister, and the government operating in standby mode without cabinet ministers.
It was during this “void” that the fateful tabligh The event was organized at the Sri Petaling Mosque and drew the attendance of some 14,500 people from February 27 to March 1, and March 1 was the day the WHO declared the Covid-19 outbreak as a pandemic.
The result of all this was after March 1, total daily infections increased from a double-digit number (29 cases in total) to a three-digit number as of March 9 (117 cases in total) and a figure of four digits on March 20 (1,030 total cases).
While the new daily cases followed in the same way one digit on March 1 (four new cases) to two digits on March 4 (14 new cases) and went to a three-digit figure on March 15 (190 new cases) ), with the first deaths on March 17 (two deaths).
It was the government’s bold decision to introduce the unprecedented Movement Control Order (MCO) on March 18 (total cases at 790, new cases at 117) that ultimately reduced new infections to a double-digit number on September 15. April (85 cases).
As of May 9, new infections are in 54 cases (still in double digits) while the total infection is in 6,589; fatalities to 108; and 4,929 have recovered, leaving us with only 1,552 active cases, including 18 in the ICU.
Malaysia still has a long way to go, as long as we don’t see a new single-digit infection soon, especially when effective vaccines and drugs are still a long way from hitting the market.
Although not out of the woods yet, the situation has greatly improved, with the government introducing a conditional MCO with some relaxation on May 4 to restart the economy by opening it in a controlled manner.
The government did this because the MCO has cost the country economic losses of RM63 billion while facing the grim reality that Malaysia’s unemployment rate soared to 3.9 percent in March, and the number of unemployed rose 17.1 percent. YoY at 610,500, based on the latest statement by Chief Statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin on Friday (May 8).
This compares to the unemployment rate of 3.3 percent in February, and with that, the Malaysian Department of Statistics (DOSM) said that the unemployment rate in the first quarter of 2020 (1Q20) also increased to 3.5 percent, the highest since 2Q17.
While there is a pressing need to address the economic or livelihood dimension, the government still has the public health security dimension in mind. This is due to the real possibility of a second wave of infections, which could be more serious, which is expected to occur if the rakyat abandons all the new rules regarding social distancing and personal hygiene.
Hence, the constant reminder of the need to adhere to the standard operating procedure (SOP) for companies trying to reopen during the conditional MCO and SOPs for Rakyat to dine, and the greatest stimulus for digitization and e-commerce.
At this critical juncture, the political dimension of having a vote of no confidence against the government emerges. Have politicians lost their sense of priority? How does a vote of no confidence help to increase the flaccidity of the economy or how do you ensure that a second wave of infections does not occur?
Suppose the vote of no confidence materializes, does that mean that Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin (over) will no longer be PM? Of course, it will continue to be so because he will have to seek an audience with the Agong in his capacity as Prime Minister to inform the King of the political situation.
And according to some constitutional lawyers, it all depends on how Muhyiddin reports to the Agong. If at your briefing you request a dissolution of Parliament and the King agrees, then early elections are looming.
In any case, he will remain the prime minister, albeit as a caretaker, until the elections end and a new prime minister is enacted (it could be him again).
If the dissolution request is not granted, he will have to resign and Agong will appoint a new prime minister as provided in the Constitution, the same provision that the King had used to resolve the political crisis in February.
On the other hand, if in his briefing all he says is: “I have lost the majority in Parliament”, then the King cannot dissolve Parliament since the Constitution allows His Majesty to do so only on the advice of the Prime Minister. Then, the new King will be appointed by the King in the same way provided by the Constitution.
So, unless an early election is called, everything returns to the starting point, as it is the King who will decide on a new prime minister. Meanwhile, damage to the country due to the government being on standby may mean further collapse of the economy and the return of Covid-19 with total revenge.
JAMARI MOHTAR is director, media and communications for Emir Research, an expert group focused on strategic policy recommendations based on rigorous research.
The views expressed here are those of the author / contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
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