Lina Soo
KUCHING (June 14): Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) president Lina Soo said former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s proposal of the National Operations Council (NOC) is a stunt by him to try to regain power.
To create a special authority (which Mahathir offered to lead) to manage the current Emergency following the model of the NOC formed during the 1969 Emergency is untenable and oddly out of context, she argued.
“It was in the interest of national security that the NOC was established in 1969 to handle the racial riots which had broken out after the general election and then prime minister Tun Abdul Razak had yet to constitute his cabinet. In essence there was no functioning government then,” Soo explained.
She made a distinction between an emergency created out of a health crisis and one borne out of a public security risk.
Currently, she added, Malaysia has a functioning government of sorts, albeit an overbloated cabinet assisted by a legion of assistant ministers.
“To constitute a Council or advisory body to rule at a time of crisis, His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong can only act upon advice from the government represented by the Prime Minister or a minister acting under the authority of the Cabinet,” she continued.
Should Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin proffer to advise Yang di-Pertuan Agong to constitute a special Council, be it NOC or by any other name, Soo opined that this would be an admission on the part of the federal government of their colossal failure to manage the health crisis and their incompetence to steer the country to economic recovery.
Soo then delved into the options to resolve the crisis Malaysia faces today as she said the current administration is a non-performing blundering government whose management of the pandemic and the economy is hopeless and hapless.
“One option is to replace Muhyiddin’s administration with a leader who the Yang di-Pertuan Agong believes in his judgement commands the confidence of the majority of the members of Parliament amidst the prevailing situation.”
“Another option is to dissolve Parliament to seek a fresh mandate from the people to form the succeeding government,” she said.
Both options, she went on, require due constitutional process and political actions from all parties concerned and this means Parliament needs to re-convene.
For her, there is no reason for Parliament to be prorogued when MPs have been vaccinated and Covid-19 standard operating procedures are already set in place.
“We are racing against time and we hope His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong will in all wisdom guide the country to normalcy and stability through this difficult and trying period to alleviate the suffering of the people,” she said.