KUALA LUMPUR – Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is calling on the Perikatan Nasional government to stick to imposing another movement control order (MCO) rather than an emergency declaration.
Quoting a report on the possibility of a nationwide emergency order being imposed, Najib said if it is true that the government intends to seek consent from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the decision would be purely political in nature and is not to keep the Covid-19 situation in check.
“We all know that the first MCO imposed in March-April (last year) was very strict, including instructing military personnel to control the situation.
“What else was lacking to curb Covid-19 during the first MCO then?” Najib said on Facebook today.
As evidenced by the first phase of the MCO last year, he said laws under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 are enough to control and curb the pandemic without needing to declare an emergency and suspend Parliament.
“If it is true that the request for an emergency order was made by the government again, then many people will have the perception that the government only wants to maintain its political power and is not acting in the interest of the rakyat.
“Many will also have the perception that the government had blatantly relaxed almost all SOPs, including lifting interstate travel, to deliberately risk the people's health and lives to ensure conditions would worsen so that it would get the chance to ask for an emergency again, after its first emergency request failed last October,” he said, adding that implementing MCO 2.0 would suffice. – The Vibes, January 11, 2021
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