Saratok MP Ali Biju said the people will not be burdened by any Emergency declaration, adding that it will still be business as usual for the shopkeepers.

“Taxi drivers will still get to drive and the Tan Sris can still invest in the stock market.

“Only Parliament would be suspended, political activities limited, and wannabe superheroes cannot get to spook anyone with their strong, convincing and formidable ‘superpowers’,” he said in a statement.

Ali, who assumed the position of deputy energy and natural resources minister after Perikatan Nasional took charge of the federal administration, said he disagreed with former attorney-general Tommy Thomas’s statement yesterday that a declaration of Emergency would be unconstitutional.

Ali said as a trained engineer previously, the profession had taught him to build a “fail-safe pause or emergency button” into any devices set up to ensure that there is a security feature.

“My engineering logic tells me that disagreeing with an Emergency means agreeing to a general election during a raging pandemic.

“And so Tommy’s legal language simply defies the rational logic of an engineer.

“Let us all be rational and reasonable people for once and hit the ‘pause button’,” Ali said, adding that political leaders from both sides of the political divide should reduce their politicking and focus on efforts to battle Covid-19 and boost the economy.

On Friday, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and some Cabinet members met Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah at Istana Abdul Aziz in Kuantan and presented their proposals to the King. However, the nature of these proposals was not disclosed.

The King will meet other state rulers at Istana Negara today on Muhyiddin’s proposals.