Saratok MP Datuk Ali Biju
KUCHING (July 28): Saratok MP Datuk Ali Biju has suggested that the state election was only due in the first quarter of next year instead of within 60 days after the nationwide Covid-19 Emergency ends on Aug 1.
In a statement today, Ali disagreed with the view of many lawyers and lawmakers that the term of the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly, which is supposed to end on June 6, automatically expires after the Emergency is lifted.
The energy and natural resources deputy minister pointed to a ‘Stopping the clock’ convention, which he said was practised by parliaments and legislative assemblies that follow the Westminster system of government.
He explained that since the Emergency started on Jan 11, 2021, there was a period of roughly seven months when the clock stopped ticking as far as Parliament and the Sarawak DUN were concerned.
Ali added that in the Prime Minister’s speech which announced the Emergency, paragraphs No. 21 and No. 22 specifically prorogued Parliament and all DUNs, and therefore, under a state of Emergency, the clocks in Parliament and DUN Sarawak were effectively stopped.
“By virtue of the clocks being stopped in both Parliament and DUN Sarawak as of Jan 11, 2021 till midnight on Aug 1, 2021, would it not follow that the clock in DUN Sarawak would only begin ticking again after midnight on Aug 2?
“In other words, it would not make legal sense to count the months from Jan 11 till Aug 1 as being months that DUN Sarawak was in operation.
“Therefore, I believe DUN Sarawak would not automatically dissolve on Aug 2 as we would have to account for the prorogue seven months when the clock was stopped,” he said.
If the Emergency had not been proclaimed, DUN would have expired on June 6, 2021 with an additional 60-day extension, if applied, bringing DUN Sarawak to an automatic dissolution two months later which is Aug 5, 2021, he said.
“As the clock was stopped on Jan 11, and the clock would start ticking again on Aug 2, it would follow then that DUN Sarawak would have to account for five months after the 2nd of August before it expires, which would be January 2022.
“If we add the additional 60-day extension, that will bring us to an automatic dissolution of DUN Sarawak sometime in March 2022.
“In short, we cannot count the months during the Emergency, and would have to start counting only after the Emergency ends, Aug 2 onwards plus five months plus 60 days of extension,” said Ali, who is also Krian assemblyman.
Nevertheless, he said he would leave this academic legal discourse to the constitutional experts to sort out, and ultimately, the prerogative to announce the date of the Sarawak state election lies with Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
“With the current pandemic situation in Sarawak where cases, hospitalisation and deaths are still high, I am in full agreement with both the State and Federal governments that the Sarawak state election should only be held when we have reached herd immunity,” said Ali.