DAP’s Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii said there was “no justification” for GPS to push for the Emergency to be lifted as it was already supposed to end in just a few months.
Istana Negara announced yesterday that the Emergency, which was scheduled to end in February 2022, had been lifted, paving the way for a state election that has been due since June when the state assembly was set to automatically dissolve.
“We had the advantage of observing and even doing a proper assessment of the potential Covid-19 damage from the Melaka polls before making a decision to have ours, but instead, political considerations have trumped health concerns,” Yii said in a statement.
Given what happened last year when Sabah held its state election, cited by many as the cause of the country’s third wave of infections, he said few were opposed to the extension of the Emergency in Sarawak.
“Sarawak’s Covid-19 situation is still far from ideal, with ICU numbers and death rates per capita being some of the highest in the nation.
“This is dangerous, because if this state election turns out to be a ‘super-spreader event’, our healthcare facilities are not equipped to handle another surge in cases.
“This will result in a lower quality of healthcare for both Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 patients,” he said.
“This may also bring us back to when doctors needed to choose who to treat and who not to treat, and this worst-case scenario may result in more deaths. It is irresponsible to put our frontliners in such a situation, on top of risking the lives of the people.”
Yii then highlighted how even the Agong had expressed his concern that Covid-19 was still spreading at an alarming rate, in the announcement on the lifting of the state of emergency in Sarawak.
“The Agong explicitly expressed his concerns and views that the country is still struggling to face the threat of Covid-19 and that the spread of the virus is still at an alarming level. However, such concerns were not taken into account,” he said.
Yii said numerous GPS leaders had defended the lifting of the Emergency as an election was needed to uphold democratic principles, when in fact it was an example of active voter suppression.
“The total number of voters to be intentionally disenfranchised is estimated to be 674k in the state polls. This not only includes 125k voters between the ages of 18 and 20, but also those who would have been automatically registered as voters in Sarawak.
“In order for democracy to thrive, every effort must be made to allow more people to participate in an election, including making sure it is safe for them to come out to vote.”