Malaysia’s king says parliament can sit despite national emergency to tackle coronavirus pandemic
- In a statement released by the palace, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah says the country’s laws allow parliament to convene while other Covid-19 restrictions remain
- The king announced the emergency on January 12 after being advised to do so by PM Muhyiddin, in a move critics say the embattled premier took to stay in power
In a statement, the national palace said Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah made his views on the matter clear during a meeting with the speakers of the country’s upper and lower houses of parliament.
Sultan Abdullah – who wields the constitutional powers of a head of state – said Malaysia’s emergency laws allowed for the legislature to convene, contrary to the perception “by some parties” that this was not the case, according to the statement.
The government had at the time argued that it needed expansive powers to quell a third wave of Covid-19 cases as daily infections surged across the country.
But critics of Muhyiddin hit back by saying the administration already had ample powers to deal with the health crisis.
Muhyiddin had first sought a national emergency in October, but Sultan Abdullah rejected that request, saying such a measure was not necessary at the time.
Upon receiving the monarch’s assent to his plans in January, the prime minister promised to hold fresh polls soon after the emergency order was lifted. “Let me assure you that the civilian government will continue to function,” he said in a live address, adding that the state of emergency was not a “military coup” .
The king’s Wednesday statement came as Malaysia’s Covid-19 vaccination programme began in earnest, with Muhyiddin among the first to be inoculated.
The pandemic has coincided with one of the worst Malaysian political crises in generations, with Muhyiddin battling for months to stave off attempts by Anwar to topple him through a vote of no confidence.
The prime minister came to power on March 1 last year after engineering a political coup against the then ruling Pakatan Harapan alliance to which he belonged.
Sultan Abdullah’s remarks on Wednesday follow a rare public attack last week on the government by deputy speaker Azalina Othman Said. The former lawyer, a member of the Umno party that props up Muhyiddin’s government, had said in a letter to the attorney general that she was “bewildered” the authorities were not considering using the various technological tools employed by legislatures in other countries for sittings to continue remotely.
“As [you] may be aware, almost all other countries, including those with significantly higher Covid-19 [cases] have not suspended their parliament. Instead, countries such as our colonial master, the UK, have made significant technical and procedural work so that parliamentary proceedings can take place safely and efficiently,” she said.
Azalina said the suspension of parliament had “emasculated” the legislature and given the executive branch a “free rein” over running the country.
“I must stress that ministerial responsibility is central to the parliamentary system because it ensures the accountability of the government to the legislature and, thus, ultimately to the electorate as a whole,” she said.
Anwar, leader of the Pakatan Harapan coalition, in January filed a legal challenge over Muhyiddin’s advice to the king to suspend parliament during the emergency. Soon after Wednesday’s statement, the three-party alliance called on the government to convene the legislature in March.
