KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) – The King of Malaysia on Tuesday approved a coronavirus emergency that will suspend parliament at least until August and stop any bid to seek general elections in a political postponement for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
Muhyiddin assured citizens in a televised speech that the emergency was not “a military coup and the state of cover will not be implemented.” He said his civilian government would remain in power during the emergency, which would last until August 1 or earlier, depending on the situation.
The declaration of urgency came as a surprise just a day before millions of people in Malaysia’s largest city, Kuala Lumpur, the administrative capital of Putrajaya and five high-risk states came back close to the blockade for two weeks.
It also comes amid threats by the United Malaysian National Organization, the largest party in the ruling coalition, to withdraw support from Muhyiddin to force early general elections. Many in UMNO are unhappy that the party plays the second fiddle compared to Muhyiddin’s Malaysian party.
Muhyiddin said the national parliament and state legislatures will be suspended and no elections are allowed during the emergency. He pledged to call general elections after the crisis eased and is sure to hold ballot boxes.
Oh Ei Sun, an elderly member of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, said most people could understand the need for movement borders, but an emergency statement appeared exaggerated because it is unclear how it could help slow the spread of the virus.
“It is very clear a political move by Muhyiddin to prevent the political challenges of both his rivals in his ruling coalition and the opposition,” he said.
Malaysia last declared an emergency in 1969, after bloody racial riots that killed hundreds. The king, who can declare a state of emergency allowing the country to be governed by ordinances that cannot be challenged in court, had rejected Muhyiddin’s request to declare an emergency in October.
King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah said at the time that existing laws were enough to stop the spread of the virus. But in a palace statement on Tuesday, the monarch said he considered public safety and the country’s best interest in giving his consent after meeting with Muhyiddin late Monday.
The king said he was worried because the pandemic had risen to a critical level and at the same time, parts of the country were battling floods that displaced thousands.
Malaysia virus cases rose from just over 15,000 three months ago to 138,224, including 555 deaths, in a new outbreak triggered by local elections.
Muhyiddin, in announcing Monday’s blockade, warned that the country’s health system is in a “breaking point”. He said daily coronavirus cases, which have consistently violated 2,000 in recent weeks, could reach 8,000 by the end of May if nothing is done. The health ministry also said it had identified the first case of a highly contagious variant of the UK in the country.
Separately, Interior Minister Hamzah Zainuddin became the third cabinet minister in recent days to test positive for the virus, his office said on Tuesday.
According to Wednesday’s renewed borders, social gatherings and interstate travel are prohibited and traffic is limited to a radius of 10 kilometers (6 miles), similar to a national blockade in March 2020. However, certain sectors of the manufacturing industry, construction, services, trade and distribution, and plantations will be allowed to operate with strict guidelines.
Muhyiddin assured investors that “Malaysia is open for business.”
“This emergency period will give us the necessary calm and stability, as well as allow us to focus on economic recovery and regeneration,” he said.
Muhyiddin took power in March after instigating the collapse of the reformist alliance that won the 2018 elections and joined the opposition to form a Malaysian-centered government. But his government is shaky with a slim majority in parliament.
Josef Benedict, a researcher with the rights group CIVICUS Monitor, said the urgency seemed to be another offer by Muhyiddin to “keep power, block elections and remove parliamentary oversight” rather than take it seriously. pandemic.
“A dark day for democracy,” he wrote on Twitter.