DAP has described the unconstitutional postponement of Parliament as a desperate attempt by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to stay in power.

In a statement, the party’s secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the decision was made to prevent full accountability and transparency over Muhyiddin’s failure to handle the Covid-19 pandemic, the economic crisis and confrontation with the King.

“Despite the King commanding that Parliament should decide and debate on the revocation of the emergency ordinances, the parliamentary meeting on Monday has been postponed and Parliament locked down by the prime minister and the deputy speaker Mohamad Rashid Hasnon on the pretext of Covid-19.

“The Speaker Azhar Azizan Harus has clearly put on false pretences by deceiving the opposition bloc of MPs when he told a delegation led by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim last Thursday that he wanted Parliament to continue sitting on Monday,” he said in a statement today.

Dewan Rakyat secretary Nizam Mydin Bacha Mydin yesterday said Monday’s sitting would be postponed following a risk assessment by the Health Ministry, which detected 11 positive Covid-19 cases after 1,183 samples had been taken.

Nizam said Muhyiddin ordered the Monday meeting to be adjourned in accordance with Standing Orders 11(3).

“This adjournment is in line with director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah’s suggestion based on several cases detected in Parliament last week,” he said.

The notice follows the king’s public rebuke to the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government for failing to table the emergency ordinances in Parliament for debate.

In his reprimand, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah had singled out Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Takiyuddin Hassan and Attorney-General Idrus Harun for misleading Parliament on the matter on July 26.

On that day, Takiyuddin had stunned MPs by saying there was no need for a debate in Parliament on the ordinances as they had already been revoked by the cabinet on July 21.

“It is ridiculous for the prime minister to lock down Parliament just because of 11 cases of Covid-19 out of 1,183 tests or a positivity rate of 0.9%, way below the World Health Organisation threshold of 5%. When factories are closed because Covid-19 positive cases are detected, the factories reopen after two days and proper sanitisation.

“Why was sanitisation not done last Friday so that Parliament can reopen on Monday?” asked Lim

The former finance minister said most of the MPs were not afraid to meet, despite the discovery of Covid-19 infections in Parliament, for the sake of the country, the federal constitution, the people and the future.

“For those MPs who are afraid, they need not come. Let those who do not fear but are more concerned for the future of the lives and livelihood of Malaysians to attend Parliament.

“The DAP MPs will be there tomorrow,” Lim said. – August 1, 2021.