Malaysian king says urgent parliamentary debate needed on Covid-19 exit strategy

Statement, which follows meeting of the heads of the country’s nine royal families, appears to contradict Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who said legislature could not sit until September

Muhyiddin’s administration is under fire for its failure to control a third wave of the coronavirus despite having assumed vast powers by declaring a state of emergency

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Malaysia’s King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:45pm, 16 Jun 2021Updated: 10:28pm, 16 Jun 2021

Malaysia’s king on Wednesday said parliament should urgently reconvene to debate the government’s Covid-19 exit strategy, in a seeming contradiction of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s assertion that the legislature could not sit again until September at the earliest.

Concurrently, the heads of the country’s nine hereditary royal households said in a collective statement that an ongoing state of emergency that expires on August 1 should not be extended.

Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah’s statement followed an ad-hoc meeting of the sultans and regents that was convened amid rising anger against the government over its handling of the public health crisis.

The Muhyiddin administration has faced sharp criticism for a litany of issues including a failure to quash a months-long third wave of the pandemic despite having vast powers granted to it following the declaration of a state of emergency in January.

The opposition meanwhile has slammed the suspension of the legislature during the emergency, saying there is no reason lawmakers who have been vaccinated should not be allowed to meet.