KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 — A state of emergency will only be considered for Bugaya in Sabah and Gerik in Perak, which face by-elections, if a risk assessment by the Health Ministry and National Security Council (NSC) identifies similar issues as to those found in Batu Sapi, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan said today.

Takiyuddin said among the problems anticipated in Batu Sapi had been the possibility of non-compliance of standard operating procedures (SOPs).

"The second problem was election workers. As of November 6, there were supposed to be 837 election workers on duty, but only 143 were willing to work.

"Similarly, with the Health Ministry, it highlighted the limitations to deploying healthcare workers to manage the more than 30,000 voters in Batu Sapi,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today during Ministers’ Question Time.

The de facto law minister said with these problems in mind, the government saw it fit to declare an emergency, and the step taken by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong was based on the Federal Constitution, and therefore, could not be seen as undemocratic.

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