KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 — Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman today pleaded with the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government to not suspend Parliament by way of an emergency declaration.

Taking to Twitter, the first-term MP and former youth and sports minister said that he wants to raise several pertinent issues in the originally scheduled November 2 sitting.

"Please don’t suspend Parliament. We are a democratic nation. I want to raise many issues in Parliament. I am paid to do my job,” he said.

Syed Saddiq added that among the issues he wants to raise during the Dewan Rakyat sitting, are the Bantuan Prihatin Nasional 2.0 (BPN 2.0) for university students, reduction of university fees owing to online distance learning, as well as a special aid for Malaysian workers stranded in Singapore.

Speculation has been rife that the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government is seeking to declare a state of emergency as Malaysia struggles to contain the spike in Covid-19 infection that has also hurt the economy.

Reports have so far suggested that Putrajaya is seeking a dubious so-called state of "partial emergency”, also dubbed as "economic, health, or political emergency”.

It is unclear what the emergency powers being sought are at the moment as the breadth and scope under a state of emergency are far ranging.

This comes as the country recorded a new high of Covid-19 deaths at 10 fatalities two days ago, bringing the total to 214.

Malaysia also recorded 710 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, bringing total positive cases to 24,514.

Separately, on his Facebook page, senior lawyer and political secretary to DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang, Syahredzan Johan felt that the rumoured move is to also prevent public criticism on the manner Muhyiddin's government handled the Covid-19 crisis.

He alleged that the government was feeling uneasy over the trending #MuhyiddinOut hashtag on social media.

"I think this emergency proposal is not just to stay in power. I think it will also be used to silence the people's criticism of the way the government handles Covid-19.

"Remember, #MuhyiddinOut? They are very uncomfortable. They can do nothing. But in the event of an emergency, they can make a legal ordinance without having to go through Parliament, if Parliament does not convene. Emergency (Criticism of the Government) Ordinance 2020? Not impossible,” he wrote.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and several other government leaders attended an audience with Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah at the latter’s Istana Abdulaziz in Kuantan.

However, no announcement was made following the audience.