COMMENT | As the country continues to battle Covid-19, several states have attempted to take matters into their own hands. For example, as of July 13, the Sabah and Sarawak state governments allowed dine-in at eateries, despite not being allowed to do so under the federal government’s National Recovery Plan (NRP).

Both states have moved from Phase 1 to Phase 2 of the NRP, whereas the NRP only permits dine-ins for states in Phase 3.

Separately, some have called on local governments in Selangor to use their powers to take stricter measures against factories. The Local Government Act 1976 gives power to local governments to issue operating licences to factories.

So local councils – which receive instructions from the state government – could withdraw licences for factories to operate, superseding the letters that some factories received from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) allowing them to continue operating under the enhanced movement control order (MCO).

These incidents call into question the overlapping and conflicting powers of the federal and state governments in Malaysia, which have arisen multiple times since the start of the MCO issuances in March 2020.

Can the states...