🇲🇾 No Emergency for Malaysia

Hello friends!

I found it hard this week to pick which story we’ll be checking in on. This truly feels like a monumental moment for the entire region and the cumulative effect of so many countries undergoing what could be transformative movements is very exciting, even when the context is so devastating.

But! with so much happening, it’s hard to keep abreast of it all. I’m planning on far more calls to experts and commissioning in the coming months. I’m always open to pitches and conversations about would-be pitches from across the region, so get in touch!

Premium readers, see you Thursday. Everyone else, see you Saturday with another Laos special.

Thanks and stay safe out there!Erin Cook

(A warning from Penang)

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin lives to fight another day. The formerly-government-formerly-ousted-now-back-on-top UMNO (we’re dangerously close to having to diagram Malaysia updates instead of writing them!) confirmed it would continue to support the leader and the Perikatan Nasional coalition in a tense meeting early Tuesday morning. 

It follows reports that the big man was considering his options — including resignation — following his now-failed intention to introduce emergency measures ostensibly to curb Malaysia’s frightening increases in COVID-19 transmissions. Opposition figures and many in the community accused the government of pondering the measures more to safeguard its own future amid a challenge from Anwar Ibrahim and a slew of COVID-related scandals which have seen government allies exempt from the tough violation punishments meted out to every day Malaysians, plus debate surrounding a crucial budget to be released next week. 

Anwar Ibrahim fired a warning shot. “A state of emergency is declared when there is a threat to our national security. But when the government is itself the source of that threat then a state of emergency is nothing more than the descent into dictatorship and authoritarianism,” he said in a statement following the proposal announcement. According to Malaysiakini, his views are shared among the opposition who immediately argued existing laws are more than enough to address the pandemic and an emergency declaration would be an overreach. 

Malaysiakini also has a very handy list of previous declarations, which largely occurred during times of extreme political upheaval in the early years of the country’s independence. 

The King doesn’t want to add his name to that list. “Al-Sultan Abdullah is of the opinion that there is no need at the moment for His Majesty to declare an emergency in the country or in any part of the country of Malaysia. His Majesty is confident in the ability of the government under the leadership of the prime minister to continue to implement policies and enforcement efforts to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said a Palace statement, care of Al Jazeera.  

Good for now, says the circle of brilliant young Malaysians I listen to, but not too stoked about the King’s involvement in politics here. The role of the monarchy has been heightened in recent years following the weird Muhammad V business last year and the politicking of, well, this entire year keeping the King busier than usual. Anywho. 

Umno Supreme Council member and a deputy minister in the government Zahidi Zainul Abidin took the uh, unusual step of blaming the voters for the country’s political instability. “And the ones that caused this situation is the people. The people are the ones who voted like they did, because they were lied to,” he said, as reported by the Malay Mail. “The people are the ones who made the decision; the situation today is because the people made such a decision [when voting] and the politicians are only correcting the situation.” Truly a jaw-dropper.  

We’ll certainly be keeping a close watch on Malaysia in the coming days. Especially after I read this lede from Reuters. Might be time to get some paper and textas out. 

Further reading:

• Is Malaysia’s king taking sides in the current political turmoil? (SCMP)