PETALING JAYA: The Batu Sapi by-election that has been scheduled for Dec 5 will not proceed until the country comes out of the Covid-19 crisis.
Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah proclaimed an emergency in the Sabah parliamentary constituency on the advice of Health Director-General Tan Sri Noor Hisham Abdullah and Election Commission (EC) chairman Datuk Ghani Salleh yesterday.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (pix), who was also at Istana Negara for an audience with the King, made the announcement “live” on TV in the late afternoon yesterday.
Muhyiddin said a new date will be set for the by-election, made necessary by the death of incumbent Datuk Liew Vui Keong of Parti Warisan Sabah on Oct 2. The EC has earlier set Nov 23 for nomination, Dec 1 for early voting and Dec 5 for polling.
For Malaysians, the move could not have come at a better time. The nation saw a sharp increase in the number of Covid-19 cases for weeks after the conclusion of the Sabah state election in September.
The surge was blamed mostly on the failure of candidates and supporters to observe the standard operating procedure during the campaigning period as well as on polling day.
The rapid increase in the daily tally of new cases has spread to the peninsula as Sabahans who had flown home to cast their votes returned to work.
Hardest hit are Selangor and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur which have been chalking up several hundred new cases every day.
Nationwide, the daily tally has risen to as high as 1,800 infections.
In a statement issued after the King’s audience with Muhyiddin, Noor Hisham and Ghani, Istana Negara said the King felt “the best way forward is for the by-election to be postponed for the safety and well-being of the people”.
This is likely to set the groundwork for two other by-elections that have to be held within the next 60 days.
The Gerik parliamentary seat and the Bugaya state seat in Sabah have been left vacant by the death of their respective representatives Datuk Hasbullah Osman and Datin Manis Muka Mohd Darah this week.
In response to a question from theSun earlier, Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) commissioner Jerald Joseph urged the EC to enforce a postal voting system if the Gerik and Bugaya by-elections are to proceed.
Otherwise, he said, all parties should avoid “stoking the fire” with by-elections that require voters to be physically present to cast their votes.
He is also a proponent for postal voting, saying that the EC could introduce a barcode system to ensure checks and balance.
Political analyst Prof Dr Azizuddin Sani said the by-elections could proceed safely if the SOP is strictly enforced.
“A by-election is a small-scale election so it should proceed as planned,” he said.
The experience from the Chini and Slim River by-elections amidst the Covid-19 pandemic shows that “it should not be a problem”, he added.
Azizuddin shot down a proposal to leave the path clear for the incumbent party to win the by-election uncontested. “Everyone should have a fair chance to compete,” he stressed.
