THE Sarawak legislative assembly will dissolve on August 1 and polls will be held in 60 days, said Abdul Karim Hamzah, after the emergency expires on August 1.

The party Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PPB) vice-president said the party and its components are ready for it.

“We are ready for it. The poll must be held within 60 days if the assembly is deemed dissolved,” he told The Malaysian Insight recently.

The tourism, arts and culture minister said Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) has been ready for the election since last year.

PBB is lynchpin in GPS, the four-party ruling coalition.

The other three parties are Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), United People’s Party (SUPP) and the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP).

GPS has 69 assemblymen in the 82-seat chamber while DAP has 10. Three PKR assemblymen were previously sacked by the party and two subsequently joined Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) and the third joined Bersatu.

The election has come into focus after the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Parliament) Takiyuddin Hassan told Parliament today the government has decided not to advise the Agong to extend the state of emergency when it expires on August 1.

He also said six emergency ordinances were cancelled on July 21.

Though the number of new Covid-19 cases in the state is still in three digits, Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg a couple of days ago said there are signs of recovery in the general situation.

The state disaster management committee had also stated that most of the new cases reported are of persons under investigation (PUIs) they had already ordered into isolation before testing positive.

Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president James Masing believes the state’s delayed 12th election would be in October.

Word in the state’s political grapevine has it that Abang Johari had wanted to the polls in October last year, only to see it delayed as there was a sudden spike in Covid-19 cases.

The delay was then prolonged by the announcement by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, on the advice of the Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin of the state of emergency across the country on January 12 to combat a rise in Covid-19 cases.

The move suspended the state assembly whose term ended on June 6 as the Emergency Ordinance stated that no elections could be held during the emergency.

Karim said he expects the state election to be one he has never seen before.

It will be dominated by standard operating procedure (SOP), he said.

“Definitely the Election Commission (EC) will impose certain restrictions since Covid-19 is not yet over. I presume among them are social distancing and wearing of masks during polling.”

He said there will be no rallies of any size, nor will there be house-to-house campaigning – two practices that could further spread the coronavirus.

And what peninsula-based parties such as PKR, DAP and PAS fear the most, Karim said “outsiders” could be barred from coming into the state to assist in the campaign.

Masing said even though GPS leaders could be faced with a conundrum of whether to uphold the constitution and have the election or delay it further to protect people’s lives, the choice is to uphold the constitution.

“We have to follow the law. That’s definite.

“The laws say PRN12 for Sarawak must be held by October 2021.

PRS won all the 11 seats they were allocated by the then Barisan Nasional coalition in the 11th state election in 2016. – July 26, 2021.