Sarawak must hold election soon, says Wan Junaidi

PETALING JAYA: Sarawak is “living on borrowed time” and must hold a state election within the next 60 days, says Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

He said the lifting of Emergency in Sarawak meant that the state legislative assembly had automatically dissolved.

“There is no longer any need for the Yang di-Pertua Negeri to announce the dissolution of the state legislative assembly.

“As such, Sarawak is living on borrowed time and a state election must be held within 60 days starting from Thursday, Nov 4,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Wan Junaidi, who is in charge of Parliament and law, said he received notification of the lifting of the Emergency Proclamation from Istana Negara on Wednesday night and immediately referred the matter to Attorney General Tan Sri Idrus Harun to gazette the notice.

“This was done by the AG’s Chambers on the very same night as they have officers working on rotation.

“It is now up to the Election Commission (EC) to determine the date for the state election,” he said, adding that based on a meeting held with the EC in Sarawak three weeks ago, the commission was 80% prepared to conduct the polls.

Wan Junaidi added that not many in Peninsular Malaysia were aware that the monsoon season in Sarawak was between January and March.

“So the best option is that we must be prepared for the state polls before this (period),” he said.

On whether the Melaka election would have a bearing on Sarawak in terms of standard operating procedure, Wan Junaidi said both states were different.

“Unlike Melaka, Sarawak is the size of Peninsular Malaysia and has its own state immigration and medical laws to control its borders.

“The challenge in Melaka is that there are many entry points into the state,” he said, adding that owing to the current pandemic situation, the EC was preparing to add some 200 polling streams in Sarawak to the more than 1,000 existing streams to ensure physical distancing.

“The EC is also looking at setting up special tents to separate voters who may be Covid-19 positive during balloting,” he said.

On whether Undi18 was possible to be implemented during the Sarawak state election, Wan Junaidi who is Santubong MP, said efforts were being made by the EC to speed up the process.

However, he noted that the EC was faced with the daunting task of correlating data from several government agencies to clean up the electoral rolls for the purpose.

“The EC has no power to remove any names from the rolls until it gets confirmation from the National Registration Department, Health Ministry and Prisons Department on those who have died, gone insane or are imprisoned.

“For example, there are over 7,000 voters who are above 90 to 160 years old who may have passed away. The EC has no power to remove these names unless confirmed by the NRD,” he said.