PETALING JAYA: The federal government’s warning of legal action against nine states for refusal to comply with the conditional movement control order (CMCO) is proof of absence of “whole-of-government” approach, DAP leader Lim Kit Siang (pix) said today.
He called it a sad example of a very shambolic exit plan where the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing
“The legal threat last night by Senior Minister and Minister for International Trade and Industry, (Datuk Seri) Azmin Ali, was adding insult to injury when he should have convened a meeting of Chief Ministers and Mentri-Mentri Besar to reach a consensus on the phased restart of the economy through the conditional movement control order,” Lim said in a statement.
“Clearly, Azmin is not conversant with the Malaysian Constitution. He should pay heed to the statement by the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Federal/State Relations, Hassan Abdul Karim, who pointed out that federal and state governments are jointly given power on health matters under the Ninth Schedule of the Federal Constitution.”
Matters of public health and prevention of diseases appear under the concurrent list, meaning both federal and state governments jointly have jurisdiction on these matters, Lim pointed out.
“Neither Azmin nor the federal government can rely solely on citing the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342) to impose their will upon state governments to follow the federal government’s decision to reopen the economy on May 4,” he said.
Six states, Kedah, Sabah, Pahang, Penang, Kelantan and Sarawak have decided not to follow the federal government move while three states, Selangor, Perak and Negri Sembilan said they would limit the number of businesses allowed to resume operations.
Although Azmin referred to the National Security Council (NSC) meeting of April 28, which was attended by chief ministers and mentri-mentri besar, no consensus was reached at that meeting as to how the various economic sectors would be re-opened under a CMCO to provide for a phased lifting and soft-landing exit plan, the MP for Iskandar Puteri said.
He said a second meeting of Chief Ministers and Mentri-Mentri Besar should have been held before the lifting of the MCO and the imposition of the CMCO on May 4.
“This is what Azmin should do now instead of issuing a dubious legal threat last night,” Lim added.
