I REFER to the letter written by Deputy Dewan Rakyat Speaker and Pengerang MP Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said to the attorney-general.
She suggested the current cabinet be suspended and replaced by a special emergency cabinet, and a bipartisan special parliamentary committee be established, comprising government and opposition MPs.
She said these proposals will provide a form of enforcing ministerial responsibility to the legislature and the necessary “checks and balances”.
While I agree with the deputy speaker that it is part of the basic structure of the constitution for the executive branch to be collectively accountable to Parliament, I am of the opinion that instead of having a special emergency cabinet and bipartisan special parliamentary committee, the better approach is to remove Sections 14 and 15 of the Emergency Ordinance (Essential Powers) 2021.
These two sections remove the accountability of the executive branch to Parliament by suspending Parliament and state assemblies during the period of emergency.
It is totally unnecessary, irrational, unreasonable, and disproportionate to suspend Parliament and state assemblies during the Covid-19 pandemic.
No other country affected by the pandemic has suspended its Parliament. There is no sound justification for the suspension or removal of rights and democratic institutions to deal with the pandemic.
The pandemic should not be used as an excuse for preventing Parliament and state assemblies from carrying out constitutional responsibilities and holding the executive to public account.
I call on the prime minister and cabinet to advise the Agong to repeal Sections 14 and 15 of the Emergency Ordinance (Essential Powers) 2021 so as not to frustrate the basic operations of the nation’s constitutional democracy.
Using a public health emergency to justify the suspension of democratic controls of governance is not the response of a democratic government. It is the hallmark of a dictatorship. – The Vibes, February 18, 2021
William Leong is Selayang MP
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