SARAWAK cabinet members and assemblymen will continue to receive all their remuneration, allowances and any other benefits, as long as the state of emergency is in force, state Speaker Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar said today.

He said Section 5 and Section 6(2) of the current Emergency (Essential Powers) (Sarawak) Ordinance 2021 are “explicit and implicit” about it.

Section 5 reads: “For so long as the emergency is in force, members of the Dewan Undangan Negeri shall until the date of dissolution, be entitled to remuneration and any other allowances and benefits payable to them under any written law.”

Section 6 (2) states: “For so long as the emergency is in force, the chief minister and members of the Majlis Mesyuarat Kerajaan Negeri Sarawak (cabinet) shall be entitled to remuneration and any other allowances and benefits payable to them under any written law.”

Asfia said legal precedents also showed that the legislature has no powers to withhold assemblymen’s salary and remuneration.

He also pointed out the payment is guaranteed under Article 64 of the federal constitution.

The five-year term of the state assembly expired on June 6, but an election could not be called due to the national state of Emergency from June 7 to August 1. It was further extended in Sarawak from August 2 to February 2, 2022.

In a virtual media briefing to explain the localised emergency in Sarawak and continued suspension of the state assembly, Asfia said the current emergency is not an extension of the nationwide emergency that ended on Sunday.

He said this state emergency was made under the Emergency (Essential Powers) (Sarawak) Ordinance 2021, while the national emergency was proclaimed under the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 2021.

“The Emergency (Essential Powers) (Sarawak) Ordinance 2021 is a new ordinance specifically tailor-made for Sarawak”.

Asfia also said introducing the hybrid sitting into the state assembly as part of the Covid-19 standard operating procedure “bristles with technicalities”.

He said more than half a dozen standing orders, rules and procedures need to be amended so members’ parliamentary immunity is kept intact.

“Without the amendments, the privileges accorded to the members will evaporate and any slip of the tongue and misstep will be devastatingly catastrophic,” he said.

“The provisions of the federal and state constitutions, the practical procedure and rules of the standing orders, the provisions of the Dewan Undangan Negeri (Privileges and Power) Ordinance 2O07 must be strictly adhered to and complied with.

“All speeches and votes of members must be made in the Chambers.

“Any violation of these rules and procedure will result in the votes to be null and void and speeches will not be accorded parliamentary immunity that may result in civil litigations,” Asfia said.

That, he added, inevitably leads to the curtailing of freedom of speech and civil litigations involving laws of libel and slander.

Asfia said the Sarawak state assembly’s standing orders do not have provisions for the speeches and votes from outside the chambers or the precincts of the assembly. – August 4, 2021.