SUSPENSION of Parliament under the emergency rule, which was enforced last week, is political and not to combat the spread of Covid-19, said lawmakers and political observers.

They said Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin needed the emergency and if Parliament were to sit, the Perikatan Nasional government might be overthrown, given its slim majority of 109.

Lawmakers said it is absurd that Parliament is suspended when other areas of business, government and society are functioning as normal albeit in compliance with the standard operating procedure, despite the four-figure Covid-19 cases daily.

PKR’s Fahmi Fadzil said the decision to suspend Parliament is too glaringly political.

“This is particularly so when you realise that factories and construction sites can operate, mosques and houses of worship can be visited, restaurants can be open for takeaways and deliveries, schools are open for fifth formers, courts are working, and even the cabinet and civil administration are functioning,” Fahmi told The Malaysian Insight.

The Lembah Pantai MP said Dewan Rakyat could sit normally as it had done previously in December as there were constant checks and necessary safety measures taken.

“During the December session, when MPs and staff were instructed to do fortnightly swab tests, we saw zero infections in Parliament. Hence, with exacting precautions, Parliament was safe,” Fahmi said.

DAP senator Liew Chin Tong accuses Muhyiddin of trying to thwart Umno and the opposition by stooping so low as to call for an emergency despite declaring a movement-control order (MCO) for all states, except Sarawak.

“Instead of negotiating, Muhyiddin wants to lord over Umno in his coalition and the opposition as a whole,” Liew said.

“One can rule just by legal means but without public acceptance and legitimacy. What is legal may not be morally and politically legitimate from the eyes of the public.

“It harms the nation’s nascent democratisation,” he said, adding that even if the emergency is legally valid, the move is in bad taste.

Survival mode

The DAP political education director said Muhyiddin is desperate to hold on to power and thinking more of his survival rather than the safety of Malaysians.

“The government is on survival mode and on autopilot most of the time. There isn’t sufficient political leadership.”

Fahmi agrees, saying Muhyiddin is using the Covid-19 pandemic as a tactic to cling on to power despite him not having a strong, formidable and convincing majority in Parliament.

“The PN administration cannot and must not use Covid-19 as an excuse to cling on to power. I worry that the government is not focused, even with the emergency powers it has right now.

“We are seeing missteps in certain decisions, such as the spread of Covid-19 among fifth formers in schools and recurring problems like poor internet access or lack of equipment for children doing online learning.”

The PKR communications chief stresses that Parliament is necessary in this instance to provide checks and balances to the executive instead of absolute power under the emergency laws.

“This is why Parliament is needed. Malaysian democracy is crippled.

“Parliament and the state assemblies must be allowed to be the check and balance to the executive. The federal constitution must be upheld. Without Parliament, claims of authoritarianism are difficult to dispel,” Fahmi said.

Singapore Institute of International Affairs senior fellow Dr Oh Ei Sun said the people were contented with PN declaring MCO but when it pushed for an emergency, it was overboard.

“The MCO is quite widely accepted as a necessity in controlling the Covid-19 pandemic and people are complaining of it not being strict enough.

“The emergency though is quite different. People at the same time are questioning the necessity for the emergency, which looks more like a politically motivated measure to avoid the parliamentary checks and balances against executive powers,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Instead of hiding behind the emergency, Oh said, PN should have explored other avenues, including amending current laws or even tabling new bills, to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Muhyiddin said there were measures like taking over the private hospitals under the emergency but all these can be done using other means. You can amend the existing acts. This can be done by the health minister, no need for the PM.”

If the laws are meant to battle the Covid-19 virus, no one, including opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim or Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, would oppose it in the Dewan Rakyat, said Oh.

“You think Zahid or Anwar is going to go against a law that is to help combat the pandemic?”

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

The state of emergency postpones all Parliament and state assembly sittings until August and ultimately gives Muhyiddin and his cabinet absolute power.

This came a day after the government announced MCO for six states. Currently, all states are to undergo MCO except Sarawak.

Several civil society groups and lawmakers have slammed the declaration of emergency as an overkill and overreach of Putrajaya’s powers.

Former prime minister Najib Razak also chimed in, saying it is shameful for Malaysia to use Covid-19 as an excuse to suspend democracy.

“Emergency in other countries means the power is given to the government to implement a lockdown as they do not have an act like us for a lockdown without emergency. The parliament is never hung.

“Malaysia is the only country in the world to use Covid-19 as an excuse to suspend Parliament and the constitution,” he said in a Facebook post earlier this week. – January 23, 2021.