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PETALING JAYA: DAP Secretary General Lim Guan Eng urged Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to abide by the royal decree that rejected his request to declare a partial state of emergency last week.
“Rather than loyally upholding the royal decree as required by his ability as prime minister, Muhyiddin has tried to justify the need for an emergency and appears not to have given up on making a similar request in the future,” Lim said in a statement today. .
In a special speech yesterday, Muhyddin had said that declaring an emergency in Batu Sapi, Sabah and also Sarawak was the only way to stop the upcoming by-elections and state elections there.
Muhyiddin said that holding elections now may spark a new outbreak of Covid-19 cases.
Lim questioned this reasoning, saying that his alleged intention to postpone the elections to curb the spread of Covid-19 “begs for faith.”
He said many legal experts disagreed that an emergency was the only way to prevent elections from taking place.
Citing constitutional lawyer Andrew Khoo, Lim said that many parties viewed the attempt to declare an emergency as Muhyiddin’s proclamation to hold on to power.
Clearly, Muhyiddin has lost his majority in government with Umno’s daily threats to withdraw his government’s support from Perikatan Nasional (PN).
“For this reason, he does not want Parliament to sit down, he fears a vote of no confidence and that the 2021 Budget is not approved.
“An emergency is the simplest and easiest remedy to overcome your political problems and weaknesses.”
Lim added that an emergency will have adverse consequences on the economy, investor confidence, democracy and national unity.
He said Muhyiddin should focus on bringing people together to unite to fight the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The PN government can begin to act responsibly, starting with a 2021 Unit Budget that encompasses all inputs and incorporates policies external to the government that benefit the ordinary rakyat to save jobs, businesses and their livelihood.”
