UMNO never sought for a National Operations Council (NOC) to be reintroduced in Malaysia during the Emergency to replace the role of the federal government, says UMNO Youth chief Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki.

Asyraf said it was odd that the Prime Minister’s Office had stepped forward to object the suggestion for an NOC to be set up to replace the government’s role during the Emergency Ordinance that took place since January 11.

In a Facebook statement, Asyraf explained that UMNO instead wants the Emergency to end on August 1 as scheduled and not to be extended further, also for the current Emergency authority to be used to help citizens during this challenging time.

In the post where it’s titled ‘UMNO NEVER CLAIM MAGERAN BUT 5 MAIN OBJECTIVES FOR THE PEOPLE’, he wrote, “if for UMNO, what is certain is that the leadership has so far consistently only demanded for five main matters for the public: 1) The Emergency be ended and not continued after August 1, 2021 because it’s clear that for almost six months, it did not reduce Covid-19 cases to two-digits.”

Among the five objectives Asyraf listed are for the Emergency power under the existing Emergency Ordinances to be used to benefit the public, this includes ordering banks to offer moratorium on loan repayments by borrowers without imposing additional charges or interest, also to control the price of goods to help the public with various assistance such as i-Sinar 2.0 and i-Lestari 2.0.

He also noted that UMNO is demanding for the Emergency power to implement an actual version of “total lockdown” instead of a half-baked version.

Additionally, for the final demand by UMNO is for Parliament to reconvene again to defend democratic principles to ensure the government’s accountability over all its decision such as spending taxpayers’ funds, using the National Trust Fund, managing Covid-19, the vaccination process including procurement and contacts to purchase vaccines.

Moreover, Asyraf said, “UMNO as a party, even though some of the Members of Parliament are in the temporary Perikatan Nasional government, has never agreed and was not consulted at all regarding the Proclamation of Emergency. Furthermore, the reason of wanting to handle the Covid-19 as a reason for the Emergency is also doubted.”

Meanwhile, the NOC or Mageran was set up in May 1969 after an Emergency was declared two days after May 13,1969 racial riots. From May 1969 until 1971, the NOC governed the country as a caretaker government, instead of an elected government.

#BNNEWSONLINE