ALOR STAR – The committee set up by the opposition to ending the emergency declaration has no legal power, said Law Minister Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan.
He said only the independent special committee, set up under Section 2 of the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 2021, has the power in accordance with legal provisions to advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on whether the emergency should end earlier or on the stipulated date of August 1 or be extended.
“The opposition should use their representatives (in the independent special committee to state their views). They have representatives from PKR, DAP and Amanah.
“Use these representatives because we are giving them an opportunity to show that this government is transparent,” he said, commenting on the setting up of an independent body to end the emergency declaration chaired by Shah Alam MP Khalid Abdul Samad, who launched a petition to apply for the emergency to be ended immediately.
On the new Emergency (Essential Powers) (No. 2) Ordinance 2021, which was gazetted on Friday, Takiyuddin explained that it allows immediate action to be taken to curb fake news on Covid-19 and the state of emergency.
He said without the law, enforcement personnel will have to go through normal procedures, which can be time consuming when investigating cases on fake news under existing provisions.
“The existing law requires a long procedure as the Communications and Multimedia Ministry must check who is the account holder (of the social media page) and such. Sometimes it might take months, but this can be expedited under the ordinance.”
For example, Takiyuddin said, there are a people with certain objectives, like what is being done by anti-vaxxers who spread fake news about the Covid-19 vaccine.
“The government has spent billions of ringgit to bring in the vaccines, which have been approved by the World Health Organisation. What else do we need to rely on… the world health body has already confirmed that the vaccines are good and necessary.
“But still, there are those who talk about side effects and such. These kinds of things are an example of spreading fake news that will be dealt with under the ordinance.” – Bernama, March 14, 2021
