Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan said yesterday’s announcement that the ordinances had been revoked on July 21 was unconstitutional, adding that the government’s actions were troubling.

“If allowed to continue, Malaysia will be heading towards ‘stealth authoritarianism’,” he said in a statement.

The former Negeri Sembilan menteri besar, better known as Tok Mat, said a government is supposed to be more transparent in times of crisis, yet the current administration has become more “obscure and ambiguous”.

“The government is applying the law according to their own whims and fancies.”

The Emergency ordinance, he said, was implemented without being tabled in Parliament and therefore could not be debated, while the announcement that it had already been revoked was just as baffling.

“Since when has the Dewan Rakyat been reduced to a ‘rubber stamp’ for Cabinet decisions,” he said, adding that Parliament was not a playground.

At yesterday’s special sitting, law minister Takiyuddin Hassan said all Emergency ordinances (EOs) have been revoked as of July 21 because the government decided to cancel them under Article 153 of the Federal Constitution.

Mohamad went on to say that the decision to revoke the ordinances proved that Umno was right in stating that the Emergency declaration was wrong and unnecessary from the very beginning.

He said his party was also right in saying that suspending Parliament was not the way to manage the current health and economic crisis.

Umno, he added was also correct in pointing out that everyone’s involvement was required in resolving the crisis and not just the executive alone.