KUCHING, May 9 — Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How has called on the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) to convene a sitting to deliberate the Covid-19 situation in the state.
He said it is mistaken to say that there cannot be DUN sitting during the terms of the Emergency [Essential Powers] Ordinance 2021.
While the constitutional provisions regarding the sitting of the DUN are of no effect during this time, he added, Section 15 (1) (b) of the Emergency [Essential Powers] Ordinance 2021 provides that a State Legislative Assembly can be summoned on a date as the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong thinks appropriate after consultation with the respective ruler or the Yang Di-Pertua Negeri.
“I would urge our DUN Speaker Datuk Amar Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar to advise the Governor and the Chief Minister on the effect of the provisions, to make a representation and request to Yang Di-Pertuan Agong, for the State Legislative Assembly to sit next month,” See said in a statement yesterday.
He takes the view that the global Covid-19 pandemic has posed an unprecedented challenge to all countries, taken away human lives and slowing and shutting down much human activities.
He said what is most essential is for the country’s parliament and legislative assemblies to meet and deliberate on emergency legislations and measures to protect all the people.
The parliament and legislative assemblies are essential arms of the government which can help and support the government to manage the crisis, he added.
The assemblyman noted that all over the world, countries are focused on normalizing the work of their parliaments and legislative assemblies, to ensure that emergency legislation and policies are enacted to facilitate the implementation of the necessary health measures, vaccination and deliberating on the best solutions to safeguard and protect the millions of families who are losing their incomes and their means of livelihood.
“In turn, these people’s representatives are better informed and equipped to reach out to their constituents to help the government to promote health measures, and provide solutions to help all the people and families to overcome their problems.
“It is a good lesson to learn from others that parliaments and legislative assemblies can function during this global pandemic, and the legislative and policy deliberations are helping countries to be on track to the nations’ recovery,” he added.
See pointed out that the European Union’s Parliaments in Partnership, which tracks the response of 166 parliaments during the COVID-19 Pandemic last year, found that there were essentially five types of responses: exceptional adjournment or dissolution, partial suspension of business, procedural change, adopting social distancing measures, and continuing with their normal procedure.
He said Malaysia is among the 18 countries which have exceptionally adjourned or dissolved their parliaments.
Some 20 countries including China, Japan, South Korea and Papua New Guinea are having their parliament and legislative assembly meetings very much as normal.
Five countries have partially suspended their parliamentary business, 42 countries observed social distancing by complying with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.
The majority comprising 81 countries are adopting procedural changes such as special scheduling, reduced quorums, and the use of virtual and remote communication technology for the plenary sessions and meetings.
He noted that the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), of which Malaysia is a member, has launched a campaign called ‘Parliaments in times of pandemic’ to report on the efforts of parliaments around the world, to fulfill the basic responsibilities of parliament, such as representing citizens and supervising the executive branch.
“We need the Sarawak DUN to sit and discuss matter that are affecting Sarawak and all Sarawakians, such as the procurement of vaccines and improvement of our public healthcare facilities to reduce our reliance on Putra Jaya.
“We also need to discuss the necessary statewide efforts to register eligible Sarawakians for vaccination to ensure that our vaccination process is swift and allowing Sarawak to develop the herd immunity needed to hopefully end the pandemic in Sarawak and, very importantly, the necessary actions and intervention to provide assistance to the business sectors that are suffering during this trying time and the lots of families who are losing their incomes and their means to livelihood, and essentially the strategies and rescue plans to boost Sarawak’s economic recovery and our return to normalcy,” he added. — Borneo Post
