Committee to End Emergency chairperson Khalid Samad said he is disappointed and shocked with the statement by the de facto Law Minister Takiyuddin Hassan regarding the committee.
Khalid (above), who is the Amanah communications director, said Takiyuddin's statement has implied that forming such a committee is against the law.
On Sunday, Takiyuddin had said the committee has no legal power to end the emergency declaration as only the Independent Special Committee on Emergency has the power to advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
Takiyuddin's reaction came after the launch of the committee on March 12 to send a petition to Agong to end the emergency. The committee consisted of opposition figures and activists.
The public can sign the #TamatDarurat petition online and it will be submitted to the Agong before Ramadan.
Takiyuddin had instead advised the opposition MPs to use their representatives in the special committee to express their views.
In response, Khalid labelled the law minister as arrogant and undemocratic for looking down on the Committee to End Emergency.
"He said this committee has no power. This shows his arrogant and undemocratic personality which comes from a PN minister who long ago fought for democracy and the people's right.
"He implied that if you have no power, you keep quiet, when we know that in democracy, the real power is in the people's hands," he said in a media conference in Shah Alam today.
Khalid added that the Independent Special Committee chairperson Arifin Zakaria had a friendly tone in regard to the Committee to End Emergency.
"Arifin said he has no problem to listen to the view of the Committee to End Emergency but (he) has to discuss the issues which were raised first.
"The law minister should have used this approach.
"Arifin had shown openness, democratic, and respect to the people," he said.
Meanwhile, Khalid urged the public to sign the petition and to not fear "the words of threats" by the law minister.
"Don't be afraid. What we are doing is not wrong in the legal provision and we only want to state that we don't agree with the emergency situation. And we appeal to the Agong to end the emergency," he said.
Khalid added that personal details such as identification card number and name as required when filling in the online petition will not be revealed elsewhere other than the king.
The emergency proclamation was declared in January this year to help curb the rising cases of Covid-19.
However, under the emergency, Parliament and state assembly sittings were suspended, and this decision had irked many lawmakers of both sides.
Subsequently, Putrajaya had introduced an anti-fake news ordinance to combat fake news regarding Covid-19 and the emergency proclamation. - Mkini
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