KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's royal rulers have begun arriving at the national palace for a special meeting with the King on Wednesday (June 16) to discuss the country's Covid-19 crisis.
Over the last week, Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah had granted audiences to political party leaders across the divide to get their views on the government's handling of the outbreak during the ongoing state of emergency, which will expire in six weeks.
The King had met 18 political leaders face to face as well as in virtual sessions from June 9, said a statement issued by the Comptroller of the Royal Household, Datuk Indera Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin, on Tuesday.
Aside from meeting political leaders, the King also granted an audience to the chairman of the Special Independent Committee on the Emergency, Tun Arifin Zakaria, at Istana Negara on Tuesday, it said.
Experts from various government agencies are scheduled to present briefings on matters related to health, security, politics and the economy during Wednesday's meeting at 2.30pm, which will be the second by the Malay rulers to discuss the pandemic, after one was held in October last year.
The state of emergency was declared amid a spike in Covid-19 cases in January. There have been calls for the emergency to be lifted due to the worsening Covid-19 health crisis.
The nation is currently under another lockdown after record highs in Covid-19 cases and deaths were reported in recent weeks.
Last Wednesday, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said he had pleaded with the constitutional monarch not to extend the state of emergency, as the move has not helped poorer Malaysians.
Opposition Democratic Action Party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, whose party has the most number of MPs, told reporters after his audience that the discussion with the King revolved around financial assistance for the people to see them through the outbreak.
As a potential solution to Malaysia's crisis, the country's longest-serving premier Mahathir Mohamad mooted the revival of a council that governed the nation after its deadly May 13, 1969, race riots in his audience with the King last Thursday.
Dr Mahathir claimed the National Operations Council (Mageran), which was in charge for two years during the last national emergency until 1971, allowed Malaysia's second prime minister, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, to "solve political problems at the time" by bringing in opposition parties to form a wider Barisan Nasional (BN) ruling coalition that had a stronger majority.
Back then, Mageran was made up of a small group of political leaders and top civil servants that included the police and armed forces' chiefs. Dr Mahathir suggested including experts on the Covid-19 pandemic this time.
Pakatan Harapan has opposed the idea, while Umno has said that it is against extending the emergency.
Opponents of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin have also called for the resumption of Parliament, which last sat in December last year to pass this year's budget, so that the outbreak can be addressed.
The state of emergency suspends the requirement for Parliament to reconvene within six months of its last sitting and also ensures the Muhyiddin administration remains in power.
Tan Sri Muhyiddin on Tuesday unveiled a four-phase post-pandemic exit plan for Malaysia, ahead of the monarchs' special talks, projecting that Malaysia from September might gradually open up its economy, social sectors and also Parliament.
The country has failed to fully recover from a resurgent outbreak arising from Sabah state polls in September last year.
In late October, Malaysia was reporting some 1,200 Covid-19 cases a day. On Tuesday, it recorded 5,419 cases.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiYGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnN0cmFpdHN0aW1lcy5jb20vYXNpYS9zZS1hc2lhL21hbGF5c2lhcy1yb3lhbC1ydWxlcnMtdG8tbWVldC1raW5nLW9uLWNvdmlkLTE5LWNyaXNpc9IBAA?oc=5
2021-06-16 05:52:21Z
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