Sabah ready to hold state assembly sitting – Hajiji

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Sabah state assembly building.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is ready to hold the state assembly sitting under strict operating procedures (SOPs). 

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said advice would also be sought from the National Security Council on when the sitting could be held.

“We will seek National Security Council’s (NSC) advice and we will be ready to reconvene under strict operating procedures (SOPs),” he said on Friday.

Hajiji added he discussed with Sabah Speaker Datuk Kadzim Yahya on Thursday following the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s recommendation for Parliament to sit as soon as possible.

Kadzim agreed that the state assembly sitting could be called anytime, including before the end of the Emergency on August 1, provided that the government was agreeable.

“We are ready to hold it whenever the state government advises,” he said.

The state assembly has yet to meet since the last budget sitting last December, following the numerous phases of lockdown and the pandemic here.

“For this year (2021), we have not yet held our assembly opening session,” Kazim said, adding that the assembly should meet at least three times a year.

He said his office would need around two weeks’ notice to prepare for a sitting as it involved a significant amount of documentation as well as informing the assemblymen and other officials.