Govt mulls emergency for Gerik, Bugaya ahead of by-elections
Published on: Monday, November 30, 2020
By: NST
Photo: Sinar Harian
Kuala Lumpur: The government may declare an emergency for the Gerik parliamentary constituency in Perak and the Bugaya state constituency in Sabah, ahead of by-elections in both constituencies come January.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan said the government will refer to the Health Ministry and the National Security Council (NSC) before any decision on the matter was made.
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"The same action (similar to the measures enforced on the Batu Sapi parliamentary constituency in Sabah) will likely be taken into consideration by the government if the situation in Gerik and Bugaya pose the same risk.
"The government will refer to the Health Ministry and the NSC," he said in his winding-up speech at the Committee Stage on the Supply Bill (2021) in Dewan Rakyat today.
He was responding to a question raised by Fahmi Fadzil (PH – Lembah Pantai) on whether the government was looking at imposing emergency for the Gerik and Bugaya constituencies as well as for the Sarawak State polls, similar to that adopted for the Batu Sapi by-election.
Takiyuddin, however did not elaborate if the federal government was also considering to implement emergency measures for the Sarawak state polls since the present state government's term was until April 1 next year, with the automatic dissolution of the state assembly taking place in June.
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Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah on Nov 18 agreed to declare a state of emergency in Batu Sapi, which was supposed to have had a by-election on Dec 5.
The Proclamation of Emergency was made according to Clause (1) Article 150 of the Federal Constitution.
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Comptroller of the Royal Household Datuk Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin had said the King consented for the emergency declaration at the parliamentary constituency as a proactive measure to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.
With the emergency declaration, any proceedings that have taken place to conduct the by-election at the parliamentary constituency would not be continued to prevent the emergence of a fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Another date will be fixed for the by-election in Batu Sapi.
Despite the proclamation of emergency, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had said that there would be no curfew or military-style administration in the Batu Sapi Constituency.
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