NO announcement on the Sarawak state elections will be made during Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s working visit to Kuching today, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said.

“Don’t expect one. It would only be disrespectful to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the legal process.

“The decision (when to have the elections) is not for the prime minister to make. It’s the Agong’s,” Wan Junaidi said as Sarawak folk – fired up by news reports that the dissolution of the state legislative assembly is imminent and a minister’s comment on Thursday to wait “for a day or two” – are expecting the prime minister to make an announcement at tonight’s launch of Keluarga Malaysia in Kuching.

He said because Sarawak is still in a state of emergency, there is a legal process to go through involving the king, the Sarawak Yang di-Pertua Negeri and the prime minister to first lift the emergency before a date for the elections can be decided.

He said the king will have to consult Sarawak Yang di-Pertua Negeri Abdul Taib Mahmud, and then the prime minister on the health situation before he lifts the emergency.

“He (Agong) had met the TYT (governor). But he has yet to meet the prime minister in accordance with Article 40 of the Federal Constitution,” he said.

The meeting with the prime minister “will be soon”, he said.

Article 40 states that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong “shall act in accordance with the advice of the cabinet or of a minister acting under the general authority of the cabinet”.

Wan Junaidi said only after complying with Article 40 could the king, based on the advice he has been given, make the decision.

“Nothing to do with us (the state and federal governments and Sarawak Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg). We cannot decide for the Agong,” he said.

Wan Junaidi said if the king lifts the emergency, he will make a public announcement on it.

He said Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah is a stickler for rules.

He said before the king makes the announcement to lift the emergency and signs the promulgation to repeal the emergency ordinance at the same time, the Sarawak assembly remains undissolved and the date for the elections has to be set at another date.

He said under Article 150 of the Federal Constitution, the emergency ordinance if not repealed will continue to subsist for another six months.

“If he lifts the emergency and repeals the ordinance on the same day, then the assembly is automatically dissolved and it’s up to the Election Commission to fix the date within 60 days,” he said.

“The SPR (Election Commission) will only take over after the Agong has made the decision.”

He said whether the state assembly, whose term expired on June 6, is dissolved or will be dissolved is no longer the question now.

“When the emergency is lifted, the state assembly is automatically dissolved. No declaration, no nothing,” he said.

“It automatically dissolves because the lifespan of the assembly has already lapsed on June 7. The emergency sustains it until the end of the emergency.” – October 23, 2021.