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Emergency powers bid shows incompetence, says Anwar

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He says that while the rest of Asia is looking for ways to manage the pandemic and reopen their economies safely, Malaysia is heading in the opposite direction.

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Free Malaysia Today
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim says the PN government is using the Covid-19 crisis to justify its abuse of power.

PETALING JAYA:
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has accused the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government of incompetence, which he said was revealed by its widely speculated move for emergency powers to deal with the Covid-19 crisis.

Anwar said that while the rest of Asia is looking for ways to manage the pandemic and reopen their economies safely, Malaysia is heading in the opposite direction.

“A state of emergency is declared when there is a threat to our national security. But when the government is itself the source of that threat, then a state of emergency is nothing more than the descent into dictatorship and authoritarianism,” said Anwar.

Anwar said he strongly advised Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin “to consider the legacy of these actions he is taking out of self-interest and selfishness”.

Muhyiddin is currently at Istana Abdulaziz in Pahang for an audience with the King believed to be regarding the use of special emergency powers because of the recent surge in the number of Covid-19 cases to between 700 and 800 new cases daily for the past week.

The prime minister had chaired a special emergency meeting of the Cabinet earlier today before leaving for Kuantan.

A declaration of a state of emergency would allow Muhyiddin to avoid any no-confidence motion in the Dewan Rakyat. He would also be able to avoid tabling the 2021 Budget; if MPs vote against the Budget, the government would automatically fall.

Anwar accused the PN government, which he termed “illegitimate”, of knowing it would fail to demonstrate majority support in Parliament. He said PN is using the Covid-19 crisis as an excuse to justify its abuse of power.

“We have yet to see a solid strategy to handle the crisis, and on the back of growing criticism, the government thinks a receding democratic power is the best strategy,” he said.

“In fact, to overcome Covid-19 what we need is transparency, accountability and firm action by the various ministries. The government has failed to provide strong leadership in handling this crisis and is instead resorting to undemocratic means to stay in power.”

There were a record 10 deaths related to Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, and today’s tally of 710 new cases brings the total number of infections in the country to 24,514.

Huge admission of failure, says Dzulkefly

Former health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad says plans for a partial state of emergency amounted to a “huge admission of failure”.

His former deputy, Dr Lee Boon Chye, said the plans show up the federal government’s failure to hold majority support in the Dewan Rakyat and its failure to control the Covid-19 cases from Sabah,”

Dzulkefly said the management of the pandemic did not warrant any kind of political intervention.

Free Malaysia Today
Dzulkefly Ahmad was health minister in the PH government, and Lee Boon Chye his deputy.

He also accused the government of seeking to safeguard its political position.

“Even a Movement Control Order for the whole country is not necessary as of yet, what more a state of emergency. In the Peninsula it’s a matter of surges and escalation of cases in small localities.”

He said: “There needs to be a proper public health plan or strategic and action plan in place to handle the third wave of infections, particularly in Sabah and the most affected localities in the peninsula.

“And here, they are still fumbling,” he said.

He added there should be some kind of caucus of experts, where the Health Ministry is open to hearing opinions from other experts on infectious diseases.

“The Ministry of Health in Putrajaya should be open and humble enough to hear other expert opinions.”

Lee said he had been urging Putrajaya to impose mandatory quarantine on those returning from the Sabah elections last month, but this was only done one day after polling on Sept 27.

The sudden spike in cases that came later showed that the government failed in implementing public health measures, while many were still in the dark about whether necessary measures were taken to deal with overcrowding in prisons.

CLICK HERE FOR OUR LIVE UPDATE OF THE COVID-19 SITUATION IN MALAYSIA

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