PM to propose repeal of emergency ordinances tomorrow

 

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob is to propose that the Dewan Rakyat vote to annul seven emergency ordinances. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob is expected to ask the Dewan Rakyat tomorrow to repeal seven emergency ordinances issued during the state of emergency from January to August.

A motion by the prime minister is on the schedule for tomorrow’s Dewan Rakyat sitting.

Ismail will propose that MPs debate and adopt a resolution to annul seven emergency ordinances. The ordinances are those providing the government with essential powers to run the country during the state of emergency and rules on the prevention and control of infectious diseases, rules on minimum standards of housing and workers’ accommodation, and powers relating to the use of the National Trust Fund.

The ordinances are laws made by decree on the authority of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong without reference to Parliament, which would normally debate and approve laws before they are submitted for royal assent.

Earlier this month, de facto law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar had said the emergency ordinances would be enforceable until next February as they were not annulled by Parliament.

In a parliamentary written reply to Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang, the minister said the ordinances remained in force until revoked by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong while the state of emergency remains in place, or until they are annulled through a resolution passed by both Houses of Parliament.

Under the Constitution, emergency ordinances cease to be in effect six months after the state of emergency expires. - FMT