Budget unity emergency contemplated in Malaysia

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin (PM’s Office)

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians are holding their breath as they wait for more developments to unfold in the coming hours regarding the situation in the country amid reports that the state of emergency would be declared.

Official news agency Bernama said that

was received by Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah and that the car was seen leaving Istana Abdulaziz two hours after it arrived.

The news agency that Chief of Defence Force General Affendi Buang and several other officials were also at the palace.

Earlier, Muhyiddin chaired a special cabinet session “to discuss current issues and government affairs.”

Reports in Malaysia today said the government was contemplating taking economic emergency measures “to ensure that the upcoming budget session in parliament does not result in snap elections amid the resurgent wave of coronavirus infections.”

According to the reports, the measures will not be similar to the curfews and military presence taken in 1969 following race riots, but rather aim to enable the government’s financial plan to curb the ominously increasing Covid-19 cases does not collapse amid the shaky political atmosphere.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim who had recently tried to have himself named the country’s prime minister, said today that he was concerned about the emergency announcement reports.

A state of emergency is declared when there is a threat to our national security, he said.

Malaysia’s Federal Constitution allows for an emergency to be called under Article 150, with the consent of the King.