Malaysia’s government to reconvene parliament this month

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia’s parliament will reconvene this month, a minister said on Friday, just days after the king repeated his call for parliament to meet to discuss steps taken to deal with the health and economic crises caused by COVID-19.

The date will be decided at the next cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Takiyuddin Hassan, the minister in charge of parliament and law, said in a statement.

Two days earlier, King Al-Sultan Abdullah had asked the speakers of both houses of parliament to propose to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin that he call for a special sitting.

He made a similar call two weeks prior, when he said parliament should be allowed to debate an ongoing national emergency and the government’s COVID-19 recovery plan.

Muhyiddin had said earlier that parliament could reconvene by September at the earliest, but only if the average daily coronavirus infections fell to under 2,000. Authorities on Friday reported 6,982 new cases.

Malaysia is currently under a national lockdown and the government on Thursday tightened restrictions on movement and businesses in the capital Kuala Lumpur and neighbouring Selangor state, as the rate of new infections showed no signs of abating.

(Reporting by Joseph Sipalan; Editing by Ed Davies, Martin Petty)