The King Is The Rakyat’s Last Hope To Prevent An Ill-Conceived Emergency Proclamation By The Prime Minister To Save Himself At The Expense Of Parliamentary Democracy, National Economy And Rakyat.
Malaysians are shocked by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s attempt to seek the King’s consent to an emergency proclamation on a spurious pretext of handling the escalating 3rd wave of COVID-19 infections.
Has the Health Ministry and our front-liners lost control of the situation until a national emergency is needed? Even our medical professionals have stated that the current measures such as the conditional Movement Control Order are sufficient and at the same time help to minimize the adverse impact on the economic livelihood of the rakyat.
This has clearly nothing to do with COVID-19 when reports from MCA-controlled “The Star” openly admitted that the emergency proclamation was to avoid Budget 2021 from being defeated and put a pause on “political activities”.
The Star wrote that the 2021 Budget would be presented to the cabinet, and can be approved without voting from all 222 members of Parliament (MPs), since Parliament will no longer be in effect in an emergency. The impact of an emergency will concentrate powers in the Prime Minister at the expense of Parliament, severely damage the economy and cause tremendous loss of confidence.
Clearly Tan Sri Muhyiddin has lost his majority in Parliament and he has no confidence of winning the Budget vote in Parliament. Even Federal Territories Minister Annuar Musa has admitted that the exercise of emergency powers is to avoid elections, indirectly conceding the “grand design” to protect the positions of those in power.
If Tan Sri Muhyiddin is serious in wanting to overcome the COVID-19 health crisis, he should resign for his ineptitude in not imposing a full home quarantine on those returning from Sabah following the Sabah general election. Instead he and Perikatan Nasional has chosen to subvert parliamentary democracy by seeking an emergency proclamation to sacrifice the rakyat and the national economy to save himself and retain power at any cost.
Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah has ruled today that he will discuss with the other rulers before deciding on the granting of emergency powers. The Yang di Pertuan Agong is the rakyat’s last hope to prevent an ill-conceived emergency proclamation by the Prime Minister to save himself at the expense of the rakyat, parliamentary democracy and our national economy. Malaysians will appeal and pray for a decision where the voice of the ordinary people can be heard.
LIM GUAN ENG,
Secretary General DAP
