Emergency ends but crisis deepens in Malaysia

Monarch accuses government of sidelining his function and power, a royal rebuke the opposition claims is tantamount to treason

Malaysia’s constitutional monarch delivered an unprecedented rebuke of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s administration on Thursday (July 29), accusing the government’s law minister of “misleading” Parliament over the alleged revocation of emergency ordinances that have been in effect since January to stem a rising tide of Covid-19 infections.

A strongly-worded statement issued by the Istana Negara, or national palace, accused the government of issuing “conflicting and confusing statements” earlier this week in Parliament that had not only “failed to respect the sovereignty” of the nation’s laws, but “sidelined the function and powers” of the king as enshrined in the federal constitution.

King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah was “very disappointed” in particular by the conduct of de facto law minister Takiyuddin Hassan and Attorney-General Idrus Harun, who the palace said had failed to fulfill their promise to table and debate the annulment of the emergency ordinances in a special legislative session that opened on Monday (July 26).

The emergency proclamation, which the king assented to earlier this year, effectively suspended Parliament and state legislatures, disallowed elections and gave the premier powers to enact emergency ordinances without legislative scrutiny, supposedly to enable the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government to more effectively manage the health crisis.

Read the full story at Asia Times.

Nile Bowie is a journalist and correspondent with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.

Singapore not quite ready to live with Covid-19

City-state reimposes lockdown-like measures just weeks after saying Covid-19 would be treated as a manageable endemic disease

Wet markets, hawker centers and coffee shops have once again gone quiet after tighter Covid-19 restrictions were reinstated on July 22 to counter the highest incidence of community cases in 11 months, a development that health authorities say is a “huge setback” for the city-state’s reopening plans.

Despite making vaccination strides with the highest inoculation levels in the region, the threat of runaway infections fueled by the more transmissible Delta variant led the country to reimpose restrictions in place during May and June, prohibiting dining in at restaurants, closing indoor venues such as gyms, and limiting gatherings to two people.

After reporting very few locally transmitted cases in recent weeks, new infections rapidly mushroomed with major clusters at karaoke bars and a fishery port that soon spread to fresh seafood markets frequented by the elderly, a demographic given early priority for vaccination but with the lowest take-up rate among all eligible age groups.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung told reporters on Wednesday (July 21) that stricter curbs were needed to prevent “an uncontrollable rise in cases, which could potentially result in many severe illnesses or even deaths” among unvaccinated seniors. He said that more than 200,000 residents over age 60 have yet to be immunized.

Read the full story at Asia Times.

Nile Bowie is a journalist and correspondent with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.

China’s vaccine diplomacy falters in SE Asia

Regional nations are abandoning Chinese vaccines for Western ones as evidence mounts Sinovac is less potent against the Delta strain

As Southeast Asia grapples with a record-breaking surge in Covid-19 infections and deaths, regional nations are turning away from Chinese-made vaccines in favor of Western-made shots amid growing evidence the former are less effective against the highly contagious Delta variant.

Beijing’s leading vaccine developers, private biopharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech and state-owned Sinopharm, have shipped hundreds of millions of doses worldwide and are key to the World Health Organization’s COVAX scheme aimed at distributing shots to poorer countries.

China’s indigenously developed vaccines, studies show, offer a measure of protection and are still considered to be highly effective against severe disease and hospitalization. They also are more easily stored and transported than certain Western-made jabs, making them comparatively cost-effective.

But it is increasingly less clear how well Chinese shots protect against more transmissible Covid-19 variants, not least the fast-spreading Delta strain that is now causing runaway caseloads and pushing regional health systems to the brink of collapse. Emerging data shows diminishing efficacy levels against variants in several major Covid-19 vaccines.

Read the full story at Asia Times.

Nile Bowie is a journalist and correspondent with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.

Politics and plague make a noxious mix in Malaysia

The nation's political and health crises are deepening in tandem

As Malaysia’s political dysfunction worsens, so too has the country’s health crisis. Successive days of record-shattering Covid-19 caseloads have followed a political rupture between the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition government and its largest component party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO).

Daily infections hit an all-time high on Wednesday (July 14) with 11,618 cases. Despite a strict lockdown in force since June 1, the national infectivity rate, which stands at 1.16, is higher than it was before tough curbs on movement and economic activity were put in place. Record levels of severe illness and fatalities have been reported in recent days.

Noor Hisham Abdullah, Malaysia’s top health official, has attributed the surge to the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant, now the dominant coronavirus strain in the country. Cases breached the five-digit threshold for the first time on Tuesday with 11,079 infections, ravaging Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding states of Selangor and Negeri Sembilan.

Total cases now stand at 867,567 with over 6,385 coronavirus-related deaths. Malaysia has one of Southeast Asia’s highest per-capita infection rates, though with more than 400,000 vaccine doses now being dispensed daily, it also has one of its highest rates of inoculation. About 25% of its 32 million people have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Read the full story at Asia Times.

Nile Bowie is a journalist and correspondent with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.

Muhyiddin on his last political leg in Malaysia

PM's top coalition partner withdraws support for his leadership as political splits threaten to upend his now minority government

Malaysians woke up to political turmoil and uncertainty July 8 with the president of the largest party in the ruling Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), announcing it has withdrawn its support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and calling for his resignation.

But it remains to be seen whether the regime change gambit will succeed or backfire, with the embattled premier’s survival now depending in part on whether UMNO ministers serving in his government follow or ignore their party’s directive, opening the way for a potential political realignment if dissenting legislators are sacked.

UMNO leader Ahmad Zahid Hamidi issued the bombshell declaration at a late-night online press conference held after a meeting of the party’s supreme council, where he criticized the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and economy. Zahid said Muhyiddin had used a health-related national state of emergency to remain in power.

“UMNO urges Muhyiddin Yassin to withdraw honorably to enable a new prime minister to be appointed for a limited period,” said Zahid, adding that an interim premier should serve until the country achieves herd immunity, an 80% threshold that the government aims to reach through mass vaccination by December, and a general election is called.

Read the full story at Asia Times.

Nile Bowie is a journalist and correspondent with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.