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YOURS | ‘All political parties have decided to give way to Warisan except Bersatu …’
Emergency declared in Batu Sapi, postponed by-elections
New day: Are you happy now, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin? A state of emergency was declared to postpone a by-election shortly after a state election was held.
Batu Sapi’s by-election should have been a step forward for whoever was nominated by the ruling Warisan party. Instead, this state of affairs is on his head, despite all the pain caused by the politicians and their staff who brought Covid-19 back to the Peninsula after the Sabah state elections.
Is your desire for power so great that you want another state seat for Bersatu and Perikatan Nasional (PN)?
Campang: @Newday, to preserve democracy, by-elections should be allowed.
Responsible government can mitigate risk by discouraging in-person campaigns and applying very strict Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Jetson: Singapore had its elections and New Zealand also. Both nations did it successfully with millions of voters doing their part.
There was no major outbreak or increase in the number of Covid-19 after the elections were held. Both were performed under strict standard operating procedures.
What can we say We cannot even manage an election in a parliamentary constituency.
Vice President Biden: All political parties have decided to give way to Warisan in Batu Sapi, except for Bersatu who has his eyes on the seat. So there is an emergency.
OrangeJaguar9341: In fact, all Muhyiddin had to do was give up the seat. Let the representative of the acting party sit unopposed. Isn’t this what BN had said they agreed with? I guess Bersatu is the culprit here.
Never say that this backdoor government cares about the rakyat. They prefer to declare an emergency, regardless of its cost to people, rather than be a gentleman.
For them, it’s about power. Sadly, there is no check and balance in his unbridled lust for control.
Constitutional Supremacy: This emergency declaration is on the advice of the prime minister. But requesting an emergency for a by-election is excessive. It’s probably to set a trend. The target appears to be Sarawak.
Sarawak needs to wake up. If an emergency is declared in Sarawak, the state government will fall. Sarawak will be governed directly by the Prime Minister. In this way, Bersatu can enter through the back door and entrench himself in the state government.
Sarawak is interested in the 2021 budget being defeated. Then he must propose an amendment to the Federal Constitution to allow for a postponement of the elections.
Fernz: Yes, if an emergency is declared in Sarawak, a federal rule will be imposed. This used to be common in India. They call it the government of the president.
In 1977 an emergency was declared in Kelantan. The state government was removed from office and a federal director of operations was appointed. I think elections were called after five months.
The emergency should have been declared in Sabah instead of allowing an early state election on September 26.
Anonymous_3f4b: In fact, an emergency should have been declared before the snap elections in the state of Sabah.
But then the state opposition at that time would have shouted and accused the state government of usurping the rights of Sabahans to vote and choose their government.
The state elections were held at the expense of the massive Covid-19 deaths and a pandemic disaster in Sabah.
Kim Quek: First, the proclamation of an emergency with the ulterior motive of postponing an election may not be constitutional, since such a motive does not satisfy any of the three causes stipulated in article 151 (1) of the Federal Constitution.
The recent by-elections held for Slim (Perak) and Chini (Pahang) indicated that by-elections can take place without causing the proliferation of Covid-19.
Second, even if such a proclamation is constitutional, it does not automatically follow that the Batu Sapi by-election is suspended.
The Agong has to enact an ordinance to this effect in accordance with article 150 (2B) if it wants to postpone the by-elections. But it can only do so when both houses of Parliament are not in session.
Even when the emergency is proclaimed and such an ordinance is promulgated, Parliament could annul them by adopting a resolution to that effect at any time, in accordance with Article 150 (3).
Finally, I believe that the real reason for the current emergency proclamation is not to prevent the unleashing of a new wave of Covid-19 through the Batu Sapi by-elections, but to pave the way for a general emergency to be declared to save staggering Muhyiddin of his impending downfall.
Annonnymous 080: “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.”
1) There is no doubt that Agong has the authority to declare an emergency, but declaring an emergency to avoid a by-election is certainly difficult to explain. There is no provision in the Constitution to declare an emergency to skip an election.
Furthermore, there is no provision defined in the Constitution that authorizes the declaration that “a new date will be set for the by-elections.”
2) In the last general election, Malaysians living abroad were able to vote by mail and the Electoral Commission (EC) was able to do so. We have EC from Merdeka with a budget that increases annually, but apparently we cannot hold elections in the interior area where the population is low and the vote could be staggered over a few days. Why were these options not chosen?
3) How long does the emergency declaration last when the situation in Peninsular Malaysia is worse now than in Batu Sapi?
Public transportation is better than roads: This emergency declaration can be read well on paper for the given Covid-19 context, but this will set a precedent for the future if we find an extreme authoritarian government (even more than PN) to use this mechanism to declare emergencies in certain regions, wherever they want, to avoid elections.
They may do this now, but that does not rule out the possibility of this happening again in the future.
Quigonbond: Batu Sapi by-elections now, next general election? If it wasn’t for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, you should be very concerned about this development.
This is a more emergency prelude given the upcoming by-election after the death of another MP as well as a state assemblyman.
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