PUTRAJAYA must withdraw the proclamation of emergency and convene Parliament immediately, said opposition lawmakers.

DAP’s Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang and Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah said Parliament had previously been placed under emergency through legal force but it was allowed to function throughout the whole proclamation period.

“Muhyiddin should allow Parliament to reconvene on March 8 as scheduled as Parliament had continued to function for 35 years through four Prime Ministers from 1977 to 2012, although there were simultaneously four proclamations of emergency during the period,” Lim said in a statement.

“The only time that the Parliament was ever suspended was from 1969 – 1971 because the National Operations Council, a quasi-military body was set up to run the country.

“If the prime minister does not convene Parliament, it will only validate that the only reason to call for an emergency proclamation is political in nature and that is to secure the tenure and powers of the prime minister and his cabinet since they have become a minority government,” Maria said in a separate statement today.

Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah on Tuesday assented to Putrajaya’s request to declare a state of emergency until August 1.

The state of emergency suspends Parliament and state assemblies until August and ultimately gives Muhyiddin and his cabinet absolute power for the time being.

This came a day after the Perikatan Nasional government announced movement-control order (MCO) for six states – Penang, Selangor, Federal Territories (Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan), Malacca, Johor and Sabah – from January 13 to 26.

Meanwhile, Lim and Maria said Muhyiddin has failed to improve public health through the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines with the launch of a nationwide vaccination programme.

Lim stated despite being ranked among 30 countries with the most daily increase of new Covid-19 infections, Malaysia is not among the 50 countries which have already launched Covid-19 vaccination campaigns.

“We seem to be on the way to become among the top 30-40 countries in the world with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, which is not what Malaysians want as it is a testimony of the failure not success of our public health system,” the Iskandar Puteri MP said.

Maria added that Malaysians generally are shouldering the economic crisis in every corner of the country.

“They have lost their jobs, taken pay cuts, job cuts, placed on indefinite annual leave, and face loss of livelihood.

“For the sake of saving our county, it makes rational sense to convene Parliament and state assemblies to allow for in-depth discussions on how to deal with our ailing economy, the pandemic and the social security for our citizens,” Maria stated. – January 15, 2021.