Malaysia Covid-19 National Recovery Plan
On the 16th June 2021, the office of the Keeper Of The Rulers’
Seal ( Pejabat Penyimpan Mohor Besar Raja Raja) issued a statement which among others contained the Malay rulers’ agreement to the decree from the Yang DiPertuan Agung (Agung) that the Malaysian parliament must reconvene immediately.
On the same day, there was also a statement from the office of the Datuk Pengelola Bijaya Diraja which contained an instruction from the Yang DiPertuan Agung for parliament to reconvene so that the members of the Dewan Rakyat (the MPs) may debate the Emergency Ordinances and the National Recovery Plan (NRP).
Earlier, on the 15th June 2021 PM Muhyiddin Yassin had announced the NRP. For those of you who has not read it it, the NRP is made subjected to impossible and downright ridiculous conditions.
The ordinary meaning of immediately is right away or instantly. Parliament sitting however is not something that can happen at a moment’s notice but is certainly something that is doable with 1 or 2 weeks notice. That would be a reasonable expectation.
On the same day, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (the de facto Law Minister) Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan (Takiyuddin) said that the Yang DiPertuan Agung did not specify a date for parliament to reconvene and the PM can therefore announce that parliament can reconvene in September 2021. Today, the Speaker of Parliament Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun (Azhar) echoed what was said by Takiyuddin. It is clear that for reasons unknown, Takiyuddin and Azhar’s understanding of the meaning of the word immediately is not quite the same as most readers will understand it.
To make an already puzzling situation more incomprehensible, today National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said he was now avoiding the term “herd immunity” as he expected Covid-19 to become prevalent in the foreseeable future.
Whether they say that on their own accord or they prompted by someone, we will never know for sure. What we do know is this: By these two statements and now painfully obvious to all who are following these developments, the Yang DiPertuan Agung, together with Ruler’s Council and the Prime Minister are put on the opposite ends of the spectrum in the matter. This is indeed a very strange thing to happen.
On the face of it, it looks like there are attempts to disregard the Agung’s decree.
If parliament can only reconvene in Sept 2021, the interest of the rakyat will be severely compromised as the MPs will not be able to debate the Emergency Ordinances and the NRP immediately and potentially better solutions from the MPs cannot be put forward and considered. We the rakyat are understandably puzzled and we beg to ask this question: What possible motive the government’s top leadership has in not wanting to reconvene parliament immediately? To be sure, the trust deficit among the rakyat is becoming more prevalent and more acute.
What do the kingmaker, the GPS MPs from Sarawak and the GPS government of Sarawak had to say on this matter? It would appear that at the time of writing the only GPS MP who has issued a statement relating to the issue is Sibuti MP Yb Lukanisman Awang Sauni who said that the federal government should convene parliament soon so that MPs can take part in the 2020 Budget debate which is vital for the NRP.
The rest are maintaining ‘elegant’ silence. How you want to interpret that is up to you. Whatever it is, the golden question that you may want to ask yourself is this: Does this government deserve my support?
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