KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) – The Malaysian king on Tuesday approved a coronavirus emergency that will suspend parliament at least until August and stop all bids for general elections as a political reprieve for controversial Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
Muhyiddin assured citizens in a televised address that the emergency “was not a military coup and that curfew will not be enforced.” He said his civilian government will remain in charge during the emergency, which will last until August 1 or earlier, depending on the situation.
The emergency declaration came as a surprise, just a day before millions of people in Malaysia’s largest city, Kuala Lumpur, the administrative capital Putrajaya and five high-risk states were almost locked up for two weeks.
It also comes amid threats from the United Malays National Organization, the largest party in the ruling coalition, to withdraw Muhyiddin’s support to enforce early general elections. Many at UMNO are unhappy that the party plays second fiddle to Muhyiddin’s own Malaysian party.
Muhyiddin said the national parliament and legislature will be suspended and no elections will be allowed during the emergency. He pledged to hold general elections once the crisis has subsided and it is safe to conduct opinion polls.
Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, said most people could understand the need for movement restrictions, but an emergency statement seemed exaggerated because it’s unclear how that might help slow the spread of the virus.
“It is very clearly a political move on the Muhyiddin side to avoid political challenges from both his rivals in his ruling coalition and the opposition,” he said.
Malaysia last declared an emergency in 1969 after bloody racial riots in which hundreds of people died. The king, who can declare a state of emergency by which the country can be governed by ordinances that cannot be challenged in court, had rejected Muhyiddin’s request for a state of emergency in October.
King sultan Abdullah sultan Ahmad Shah said at the time that the existing laws were enough to stop the spread of the virus. But in a palace statement Tuesday, the monarch said he took into account public safety and the importance of the country in giving his consent after a meeting with Muhyiddin late Monday.
The king said he was concerned as the pandemic has risen to a critical level and at the same time some parts of the country are facing flooding that has caused thousands of displaced people.
Virus cases in Malaysia have risen from just over 15,000 three months ago to 138,224, including 555 deaths, in a new outbreak triggered by local elections.
Muhyiddin warned in Monday’s announcement of the shutdown that healthcare in the country was at a “breaking point.” He said daily coronavirus cases, which have consistently exceeded 2,000 in recent weeks, could rise to 8,000 by the end of May if nothing is done. The Department of Health also said it has identified the first case of a highly contagious British variant in the country.
Separately, Interior Minister Hamzah Zainuddin became the third cabinet minister in days to test positive for the virus, his agency said Tuesday.
Under the revamped curbs from Wednesday, social gatherings and interstate travel are prohibited and movement is restricted within a 10-kilometer (6-mile) radius, similar to a national lockdown in March 2020. Certain industries in manufacturing, construction, services, trade and distribution , and plantations are allowed to operate under strict guidelines.
Muhyiddin assured investors that “Malaysia is open for business.”
“This period of need will give us much-needed peace and stability, and allow us to focus on economic recovery and recovery,” he said.
Muhyiddin took power in March after causing the collapse of the reformist alliance that won the 2018 election and formed a Malaysian government with the opposition. But his government is faltering with a razor-thin majority in parliament.
Josef Benedict, an investigator with the rights group CIVICUS Monitor, said the state of emergency appeared to be another bid by Muhyiddin to “stay in power, block elections and lift parliamentary oversight” rather than seriously tackling the pandemic. .
“A dark day for democracy,” he tweeted.