MalayMail-May 29
A scorching heat wave sweeping Malaysia and the region has triggered discussions of a possible Emergency declaration to help those in the worst-affected areas cope with the phenomenon. This has also created interest in what would be needed to trigger such an Emergency, as this would allow Malaysians to prepare for such a declaration. While the Federal Constitution empowers the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to declare an Emergency when he believed there to be a grave threat to the country’s “security, or the economic life, or public order,” it does not specify how this would apply to a situation such as a heat wave. Instead, the parameters must be determined by the federal government, such as when the decision was made in 2019 to set an Air Pollutant Index (API) reading of 500 as the threshold to declare an Emergency at haze-hit locations. A previous heat wave in 2016 had prompted similar concerns, moving the government at the time to form a multi-agency task force specifically to formulate a response plan. This included setting the previous threshold for a declaration of Emergency, which was first set at the time as seven straight days of temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius. Occupational and public health professor Dr Victor Hoe Abdullah of the Universiti Malaya explained that a heat wave Emergency would be declared when extreme heat poses substantial risks to public health, infrastructure, agriculture, and the population’s overall well-being. Read more at:
