By Mohd Zaini Samsu Hadi
KUALA LUMPUR – The implementation of the Proclamation of Emergency by the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government has its hidden motives as almost all emergencies proclaimed in the country, including the existing one had ‘hidden’ agenda to achieve certain interest of the ruling party.
He said, the emergency in 1948 was enacted by the British after the communist rebellion to maintain Malaya as a prominent colony in this region.
Meanwhile, the emergency in 1964 was due to the confrontation with Indonesia implemented by the British to maintain their interests in their colony which encompassed Malaysia.
According to Jomo, the emergency in 1966 in Sarawak was done to expel Stephen Kalang Ningkan as its Chief Minister.
“The emergency in 1969 was due to the racial riots and it implemented by the government because the Perikatan Party did not garner the majority vote during the third general election that year. However, in its own way, obtained power in many states and in the national level.
“The 1978 emergency was due to the riot in Kelantan and it was made by BN so that it could control the then state government of Kelantan.
“So, it is obvious that we can see all declaration of emergency has a hidden agenda.
“The authority has certain interests when they declare an emergency. It is not something necessary, but there are certain interests,” he said during a news conference on ‘Emergency and its Danger to Economy’ chaired by the Member of Parliament of Shah Alam, Khalid Abdul Samad, who is also the Chairman of Committee for the Cessation of State of Emergency for the End of the Proclamation Emergency.
Besides Jomo, the news conference was also attended by two other economists, namely, Nungsari Ahmad Radhi and Dr Muhammed Abdul Khalid.
Evaluating the Covid-19 situation in the country and the action of the government in overcoming it with the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) and the declaration of emergency, Jomo said that such actions posed more danger to the economy than the direct impact of Covid-19 itself.
“We found that the direct economy impact from the disease is nothing much.
“However, the indirect impact from the measures imposed by the government hurt the economy,” he said.
Jomo also criticised the implementation of MCO. According to him, it was not the best approach to overcome Covid-19, on the contrary, it only left bad implications on the national economy.
For the record, besides the six emergencies mentioned Jomo (including the current emergency), there were several other emergencies in the Malaysian history, such as the haze emergency in 1997, 2005 and 2013 in certain territories, and the Batu Sapi Parliamentary emergency in 2020 which revoked the by-election due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
The latest emergency takes place from 11 January until 1 August was gazetted by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin after he had an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and advised His Majesty on the need for the emergency to contain the Covid-19 outbreak.
Following that, the Parliament sitting has been suspended in Malaysia. -MalaysiaGazette
