PUTRAJAYA should declare an emergency in Malacca to stop the snap polls from taking place following the collapse of the state government, analysts said.

Although Covid-19 cases have been trending downwards in the last couple of weeks, they said this was not the time to put people’s lives at risk for the sake of a power struggle among politicians.

While declaring an emergency is undemocratic, they said this will prevent a repeat of how the virus had spread after the Sabah polls last year.

Furthermore, it is unclear whether the Election Commission (EC) is prepared to conduct an election during an epidemic, nor is there a guarantee that voters will turn out.

Others, however, said Malacca Governor Mohd Ali Mohd Rustam should not have dissolved the state assembly, given that one side clearly had the majority to form the government.

Dr Mazlan Ali of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia said this was not the right time for snap polls as Covid-19 infections are still in the community.

“(They should) call for an emergency, not an election. This is not the time to have an election. Although cases are low now, the virus is still out there,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Mazlan said the power struggle within the state was an Umno versus Umno matter and should be resolved among them.

“The people have nothing to do with it. Don’t drag them into this mess. Settle your matters internally.

“If they call for elections, what is the guarantee of people coming out to vote? If people protest and don’t come out to vote, it is a slap on their faces.”

Ali yesterday dissolved the state assembly, following a request by Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali.

State elections must now be held in the next 60 days. The legislative assembly has 28 seats.

After several days of speculation, four assemblymen announced on Monday they had lost confidence in Sulaiman and withdrew support for him.

The four are former chief minister Idris Haron (Sg Udang), Nor Azman Hassan (Pantai Kundor), Noor Effandi Ahmad (Telok Mas) and Norhizam Hassan Baktee (Pengkalan Batu).

Following the withdrawal of support, Sulaiman is now backed by 12 assemblymen (one from Bersatu, the rest from Barisan Nasional) while the opposition has 15 (11 from Pakatan Harapan, two from BN, one from Bersatu and one independent).

Political analyst Oh Ei Sun said this is not the time to play around by having state elections.

“They should stop it for the moment. This is not ‘play play’. This will cause the epidemic to spread like nobody’s business.”

In September last year the government went ahead with the Sabah elections despite opposition from health authorities.

The elections saw a resurgence of Covid-19 cases nationwide after a lockdown in March successfully brought down the number to single digits.

Subsequent lockdowns and an emergency from January 11 to August 1 also failed to bring down infections in the country.

Having learnt from the Sabah case, the federal government extended the emergency in Sarawak for another six months until February 2, 2022, to postpone the state’s polls.

Oh said it is unclear if an emergency can be declared even if the federal government wants to as the state assembly has been dissolved, which is not the case in Sarawak.

“I’m not sure if they can declare an emergency in Malacca to stop the elections. In Sarawak’s case the state assembly has not been dissolved so in theory you can still stop it.

“In any case this will present a dilemma to the federal government because if they don’t declare an emergency they run the risk of the epidemic spreading like in Sabah after the state elections last year.

“But if you were to declare an emergency and stop the elections, there will be those who will criticise the government for undemocratic practices.”

Will the Election Commission be ready?

Badrul Hisham Ismail of think tank Iman Research questioned that even if the state was to go to the polls, would the EC be ready to hold an election in an epidemic?

“The EC has to be honest. Are they prepared to handle the elections given the current scenario? What is the standard operating procedure (SOP)? They have to make it clear. If they are not prepared they need to spell it out.

“This is because having an emergency is not a good idea. In an epidemic, we need a functioning government,” he said.

Badrul also asked if there was a case of favouritism on the part of the governor as he dissolved the state assembly even though one side clearly had a majority.

The governor could have appointed the next chief minister just like how the Yang di-Pertuan Agong did at the federal level by interviewing party heads, he added.

“Clearly the opposition has the majority so why the need to dissolve the state assembly? By not doing so it seems like the governor was choosing sides.”

Dr Tunku Mohar Tunku Mohd Mokhtar of International Islamic University Malaysia also echoed the same sentiment that safety comes first and therefore the EC must take this into consideration.

“The EC should consider whether having an election is safe considering political campaigns may force political rallies and other related gatherings.

“Secondly, it has to propose a strict set of SOP governing elections should they become inevitable. If the EC cannot ensure the safety of the voters and people in general, it should consult the National Security Council on the best course of action,” he said.

That being said, Tunku Mohar added that the best course of action is still to postpone the elections to a later date.

“I think that in the current situation, it is best that elections be postponed until the Covid situation is under control.

“Although emergency is anti-democracy, in the current situation, public health is to be given greater priority.

“I believe the public sentiment now is against having an election. What the outbreak teaches us is that it is simply unpredictable,” he added. – October 6, 2021.