By Olivia Miwil - July 13, 2021 @ 6:31pm
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah should seek to convene the state legislative assembly sitting by Aug 1 to avoid its automatic dissolution.
United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (UPKO) president Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau said the last assembly was adjourned on Dec 23 last year.
"It has passed the six-month interval between one legislative session and another on June 23, 2021.
"The Emergency currently halts the legislative clock and avoids automatic dissolution but the clock will resume after Aug 2, 2021," he said in a statement.
Madius, who is Tuaran member of parliament, said that after Aug 1, the state government risks exposing the state to another snap election within a year after the one in last September.
He said should anyone successfully seek a court declaration that the assembly has become automatically dissolved on Aug 2, Sabahans would be exposed to a 'super-spreader' event with the Covid-19 Delta variant running wild globally.
Madius said the assembly, if held before July 26, could be reconvened as briefly as one day for several important decisions.
Among them include the motion calling for the setting up of a Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSSC) on Federalism and Decentralisation in the Dewan Rakyat.
He also called for the amendment of the state legislative assembly's Standing Orders to enable an online or hybrid mode so that legislative businesses need not be suspended should the pandemic worsen.
Others include passing of any other motion or ordinance ready to empower the state government and people of Sabah on public health, intellectual property rights or other matters.
Madius also called upon all Sabah parties and elected representatives from other states to work together to jointly demand several other steps in decentralisation.
"By the next full parliamentary meeting, amend the Ninth Schedule of the Federal Constitution to move 'Medicine and Heath' from the Federal List (Item 14) to the Concurrent List alongside 'Public Health, Sanitation and the Prevention of Diseases (Item 7).
"The state government will have a bigger say in the interrelated aspects to formulate more effective responses to future medical emergencies.
"The plight of hospitals in Selangor are a frightening warning to Sabah of the federal government's failure to provide adequate support."
Meanwhile, Madius said it was also important to allow Parliament and the state legislative assembly to run its full term with a pre-agreed date instead of rushing to the polls with the attainment of herd mentality.
"If the election date is tied to the success in pandemic containment, then as the success gets closer, both state ministers will have greater incentives to deviate from the ministerial responsibilities to prepare for their electoral battles.
"There is no reason why we cannot allow both the Parliament and the Sabah Legislative Assembly to complete their terms for the remaining two and four years, respectively."
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