[ad_1]
King Al-Sultan Abdullah of Malaysia will meet with the country’s sultans to discuss the proposals put forward by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, the palace said on Saturday without elaborating on its contents, amid reports that Muhyiddin wants to impose a state of emergency.
Muhyiddin met with the king on Friday to present a proposal that would lead to the suspension of parliament, sources told the Reuters news agency. The possible move has been widely condemned by the country’s opposition politicians and greeted with alarm by Malaysians.
The king would meet with the other rulers “soon,” Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin, the Comptroller of the Royal House, said in a statement. The prime minister’s office has not commented on the proposal.
Muhyiddin has faced doubts about his support in the 222-seat parliament since he was appointed prime minister in March, and the pressure has mounted since opposition leader and former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim said last week that he had obtained the necessary backing. to become prime minister. .
Malaysia is also battling a sudden resurgence of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The country now has more than 24,000 COVID-19 cases, more than double the number a month ago. More than 700 and 800 cases have been reported per day during the last week and on Friday the country recorded 10 deaths, the highest since the pandemic began.
Malaysia has suffered a sudden resurgence of COVID-19 and new restrictions were imposed earlier this month. [Mohd Rasfan/AFP]COVID-19 Peak
Most have been to Sabah, where state elections were held on Sept. 26, but the outbreak there also helped seed groups on the peninsula, a two-hour flight across the South China Sea, and Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. , the richest state in the country. – have been under partial lockdown since October 14.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said he was “deeply concerned” by reports of an emergency.
“A state of emergency is declared when there is a threat to our national security,” he said in a statement. “But when the government itself is the source of that threat, then a state of emergency is nothing more than the descent into dictatorship and authoritarianism.”
Of course we are all fed up with politics. But even if they suspend Parliament and declare an emergency, the politicking will not stop. Because suspending Parliament IS a political move, NOT a public health move.
– Marina Mahathir (@netraKL) October 23, 2020
A pause in politicking … you mean a pause in democracy? It was a slippery slope and now we are at the end. Congratulations
– Sharifah Hani Yasmin (@sharifahyasmiin) October 23, 2020
On Friday, Muhyiddin’s cabinet held a special meeting in which the chief of police and the chief of the armed forces participated. He then flew to the east coast for a two-hour audience with the king. Local media reported that unidentified sources within the government said an emergency was necessary due to “political instability” and the COVID-19 outbreak.
In an open letter, seven former chairmen of the Malaysian Bar Council said Malaysia’s success in fighting previous waves of the disease showed that existing laws were sufficient.
“There is no violence or threat to the security of our nation,” they wrote, urging the government to reconsider the situation.
“If the overriding goal of the suggested statement is to suspend parliament and gain emergency powers, then obviously it will be an illegal design which, if left unchecked, will disenfranchise and mislead Malaysians.
Budget vote
Malaysia’s next session of parliament is scheduled to begin on November 2, and the government will face its first test in a few days when the budget is presented on November 6.
Failing to approve the spending plans could be seen as a vote of no confidence in the government and lead to general elections.
During the last session in July, Muhyiddin, who rules in a loose alliance with various ethnic Malay and Islamic parties, won the vote to replace the spokesperson with a majority of just two.
Multi-ethnic Malaysia was last ruled under an emergency in 1969, after race riots in Kuala Lumpur left dozens of people dead, most of them of Chinese descent.
According to the order, the constitution was suspended, the parliament dissolved, and government functions passed to a National Operations Council. A curfew restored order to the streets, but the media was gagged and prominent opposition politicians were arrested under provisions allowing indefinite detention.
Parliament reconvened in February 1971 and political life resumed, but the royal emergency ordinance was not repealed entirely until 2013.
[ad_2]
