Four Other times Malaysia has Declared State of Emergency in the Past
On 12 January, the King has proclaimed a state of emergency which will be going on until 1 August to curb the Covid-19 pandemic. Where the meaning of this emergency is to prevent unnecessary politicking, including forcing a General Election and making thing worse for the country during the Covid-19. And in the past, there are actually four more times that a state of emergency was declared.
The Indonesia – Malaysia Confrontation
The first state of emergency was declared on 3 September 1064 during the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation where it is also known as Borneo confrontation as the undeclared war between Indonesia and Malaysia from 1963 to 1996 due to Indonesia opposing the creation of Malaysia. The emergency was declared after the Indonesia President Sukarno announced a campaign to Crush Malaysia of being a neocolonialist creation.
Neocolonialism is the practice of using economics, globalization, cultural imperialism and conditional aid to influence a country instead of traditional colonial methods of direct military control or indirect political control.
The Sarawak Emergency
In the 1960s, it was a pretty busy decade for our government as the second emergency proclamation was declared albeit a poetically related one where it was linked to the 1966 Sarawak constitutional crisis which spanned from 1965 to 1966, where the crisis began after a group of politician were dissatisfied with the leadership of the Sarawak Chief Minister Stephen Kalong Ningkan.
In 16 June 1966, 21 out of 42 state legiaslature member has disagreed with Ningkan’s leadership and Ningkan who refused to resign from cabinet saying that the letter claim that he did not have the support of the majority was not accompanied by a formal motion. The Sarawak governer, Abang Haji Openg then delcared that Ningkan was no longer chief minister and went ahead and appointed Tawi Sli as new chief minister instead. Because of this, Ningkan brought the matter to the Kuching High Court and the court ruled in his favour, as Ningkan was reinstated as chief minister.
However, on 14 September 1966, the federal goverment announced a state of emergency to limit Sarawak on the groupds which pose a great threat not only to the State of Sarawak but also to the whole country.
The May 13 Riots
The third time an emergency was declared was following the 13 May Racial riots in 1969, where the riots accused after the 1969 general election which saw opposition parties winning more seats. Dissatisfied with the outcome, violent racial clashes broke out in Kuala Lumpur and on 15 May, the King declared a state of emergency to prevent the clashes from spreading to the rest of the country.
The 1977 Kelantan Emergency
The fourth emergency was declared during a political crisis in Kelantan, as a political power struggle between the party of UMNO and PAS, as it all started when the Kelantan Menteri Besar Mohamed Nasir from PAS started to feel dissatisfied with his party members accusing him of going against party instruction, and in result of this, there was a 20 of his own PAS assemblyman, 13 UMNO assemblyman walked out in protest the motion. Despite having 20 votes against him, Mohamad Nasir refused to resign.
He instead went to the Regent of Kelantan asking that the state assembly to be dissolved, but his request was turned down, and angered by this his supporters demonstrated in the streets resulting in violence, and it was later declared emergency by the King. Despite being members of the Barisan National coalition, 12 out of the 14 PAS MPs at the time opposed to the passing act which eventually lead to PAS being expelled from the Barisan Nasional coalition.
During the emergency, Mohamad Nasir was retained as Mentri Besar but his powers were limited under the Emergency Powers (Kelantan) Act 1977. Under the act, the ultimate executive power was held by the Prime Minister.