Philip Koh, an adjunct professor at Universiti Malaya (UM), said democratic governance should not be stalled because of Covid-19.
“That will mean a government can be kept in power for a long time, especially if a state of emergency has been declared,” he said. “That is unacceptable.”
On Tuesday, following Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s call for snap polls after the collapse of the Melaka government, Bersih chairman Thomas Fann said an election should be the last option given that Covid-19 remained a threat and Undi18 and automatic voter registration had yet to be implemented.
The next day, however, after the state assembly was dissolved, Fann said an election must be held and it should not be stopped with the proclamation of emergency for Melaka.
Koh said the situation had changed since the Sabah polls, which was blamed for a surge in Covid-19 cases.
With mandated vaccination and proper SOPs, he told FMT, there was now no reason for rejecting a call for an election.
As of yesterday, 89.4% of adults and 64.6% of the total Malaysian population have been fully vaccinated.
Koh also dismissed the Undi18 argument as “invalid”.
An election, he said, was mandatory when the constitutional provisions were triggered, in this case the dissolution of the Melaka state assembly.
He said an election should not be postponed because of a “contingent event” like Undi18 or automatic voter registration.
The only exception, he said, would be a state of emergency in “truly exceptional” circumstances.
“Elections must be held without fail. Otherwise it makes a travesty of the constitution and endangers democracy,” he said.
“If today it is Undi18, what will happen in future if there is another contingent event?”
Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy CEO Azrul Mohd Khalib agreed that democracy should not be delayed.
He said there were SOPs in place, the discipline to comply with them and a vaccinated population.
However, he noted the failure of the public as well as authorities to comply with SOPs during the Sabah election.
“It showed that we cannot conduct an election safely during a pandemic,” he said.
“But I agree that we cannot use the pandemic to delay democracy.”
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