Without Prime Minister Muhyiddin's Cabinet, the KING has no power to end Emergency faster or commence Parliament now...
Our Federal Constitution makes this VERY clear in Article 40, '...the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall act in accordance with the advice of the Cabinet or of a Minister acting under the general authority of the Cabinet, except as otherwise provided by this Constitution.
It is stressed again in Article 40(1A) '(1A) In the exercise of his functions under this Constitution or federal law, where the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is to act in accordance with advice, on advice, or after considering advice, the Yang di- Pertuan Agong shall accept and act in accordance with such advice.
Article 40(2) tells us when the YDP Agung has the SOLE DISCRETION
(2) The Yang di-Pertuan Agong may act in his discretion in the performance of the following functions, that is to say:
(a) the appointment of a Prime Minister;
(b) the withholding of consent to a request for the dissolution of Parliament;
(c) the requisition of a meeting of the Conference of Rulers concerned solely with the privileges, position, honours and dignities of Their Royal Highnesses, and any action at such a meeting,
and in any other case mentioned in this Constitution.
Recently, the King or was it really the 'Conference of Rulers' that said that Parliament should sit soon... well, in my opinion, that is merely an opinion...and nothing will happen UNLESS Muhyiddin's Cabinet advice him to do so...
Would this fall under 'any other case mentioned in this Constitution', well, for that to happen, it must be CLEAR and SPECIFIC, for otherwise everywhere where we see the word that the King does this or that .... it really still means that he can only act on the advice of the Cabinet...
CABINET - So, this means it is up to Muhyiddin, 31 Ministers and 38 Deputy Ministers - 70??? a very LARGE Cabinet..??? Will they now ADVICE the KING, or will they disregard the opinion/view or 'pronouncement/order' of the King?
Cabinet members cannot absolve themselves from the BLAMES and Criticisms of this ALL powerful Cabinet. If you disagree with a DECISION, then, of course, they can always express their personal view - which may be different from the view of the MAJORITY in Cabinet..
If it is something critical - they can always RESIGN as a form of protest...
So, Malaysians MUST remember all these Cabinet Members when we suspect or later identify/confirm MISTAKES, Abuse of Powers, Kleptocracy, Corruption, Failings...must ACT - speak out. Remember they owe a duty to the RAKYAT(People).
Anwar Ibrahim, after he left the then UMNO-BN Cabinet, went around and said that he PROTESTED the use of the Internal Security Act(ISA) vis-a-vis Operation Lallang, the crackdown on Al-Arqam, etc - Would you believe him? Especially when there were no statements/reports of such 'protestation' in the public record or on social media...
The case was very different in the case of Muhyiddin Yassin and Shafie Apdal - they spoke up and for that they were out of Najib's Cabinet...
MALAYSIA is now a Constitutional Democracy, and no more a FEUDAL State. In a Feudal State, what the King says goes ....not in the case of Malaysia.
Malaysian King had much more power in the Federal Constitution - after Dewan Rakyat and the Senate approves a law, a law cannot become a law until it receives the King's Assent. That means that if King says NO to any law, that is it.
Then our UMNO-BN government, amended the Constitution to remove this power of the King. Now, the King has 30 days - and if he does not give his ASSENT within that time, it still becomes LAW. See Article 66 of the Federal Constitution. That amendment came by in 1994.
(4) The Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall within thirty days after a Bill is presented to him assent to the Bill by causing the Public Seal to be affixed thereto.
(4A) If a Bill is not assented to by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong within the time specified in Clause (4), it shall become law at the expiration of the time specified in that Clause in the like manner as if he had assented thereto.
The amendments were important to transform Malaysia into a DEMOCRACY where the ultimate power is with the People(RAKYAT) and no longer the King or the Rulers. As mentioned earlier, there are very limited situations where the KING has the power to act on his own.
Now, when a EMERGENCY is proclaimed or extended, then, if the KING refuses to sign the such proclamations despite being 'advised by the Prime Minister', it may be that there can be no extension of the Emergency.
Article 66 dealt with laws passed by Parliament may not apply to EMERGENCY PROCLAMATIONS.
Our Federal Constitution need to be revisited - this time the Proclamation of Emergency suspended all State Legislative Assemblies - and there was no per-requirement of getting even the consent of the respective State Rulers or the State Cabinets...is this right? Remember Malaysia is a FEDERATION of independent States. Whilst Sabah and Sarawak has maintained their 'independence' in certain areas - Peninsular States seems to have happily surrendered too many things to the Federal Government - do we need to remedy this.
Now, even is an individual State wants to have LOCAL Council Elections in their State, they cannot do this because of a Federal Law. I think this is wrong - the power to hold State level Local Council Elections should be up to individual States..
It is good that the King(or was it the Rulers Council) that expressed a VIEW or OPINION that Parliament should commence sitting...
It may not be an ORDER that must be followed, but much pressure is exerted on the PM, the Cabinet and the MPs in the government parties - Do they obey with the King or not?
Some State Assemblies are saying that they are going to commence in July ...but the question is whether they can or not?
IMPORTANCE OF PARLIAMENT COMMENCING
By virtue of Article 150(3) - (3) A Proclamation of Emergency and any ordinance promulgated under Clause (2B) shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament and, if not sooner revoked, shall cease to have effect if resolutions are passed by both Houses annulling such Proclamation or ordinance, but without prejudice to anything previously done by virtue thereof or to the power of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to issue a new Proclamation under Clause (1) or promulgate any ordinance under Clause (2B).
That means Parliament can END the Emergency and even get rid of the Emergency Ordinances.
By virtue of Article 150(8) - access to the Courts is CLOSED with regard the Proclamation or the Ordinance.
When Emergency ends, the 6 months later, all the Ordinances cease to have effect. -'... shall cease to have effect, except as to things done or omitted to be done before the expiration of that period....'
Wonder whether kleptocracy, corruption, abuse of powers and other crimes under these Emergency Ordinances can even be investigated and prosecuted - we need to look at this more later maybe...
Can King call Parliament sitting? No, says ex-judge; Yes, says lawyer
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PETALING JAYA: The Yang di-Pertuan Agong must act on the advice of the prime minister or his Cabinet to reconvene Parliament although the nation is still under Emergency, a retired judge said.
Gopal Sri Ram said the King’s decision was not subject to any legal challenge but any advice given to him by the government could be reviewed by the courts.
“The prime minister’s advice to the King is justiciable (subject to legal challenge).
“A mandamus order can be obtained to compel the Cabinet to advise the King to convene Parliament if it is shown that the advice was unreasonable,” he told FMT.
Sri Ram said Article 40 (1) of the Federal Constitution also states the King as the constitutional monarch has to exercise his functions under the supreme law of the land or federal law, in accordance with advice given by a minister or the Cabinet.
“Federal law here means any act of Parliament or ordinance promulgated during an Emergency,” he said.
The former Federal Court judge was responding to Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad’s views that the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 2021 promulgated in January allowed the King to call for Parliament to reconvene on a suitable date without the advice of the prime minister.
Khalid, who is chairman of the opposition’s Tamat Darurat committee, cited Section 14 of the ordinance.
Section 14 (1) (a) states: “For so long as the Emergency is in force, the provisions relating to the summoning, proroguing and dissolution of Parliament in the Federal Constitution shall not have effect.”
Section 14 (1) (b) also states: “The Parliament shall be summoned, prorogued and dissolved on a date as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong thinks appropriate.”
Taking this into account, lawyer Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin said he supported the position taken by Khalid as provided under the provision.
“The ordinance takes precedence over the constitution since we are under Emergency,” he said, adding that the King alone could decide on the appropriate time to reconvene the federal legislature.
Firoz Hussein said he was also taking the contrary view in interpreting the legal position compared to de facto law minister Takiyuddin Hassan and Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun.
The King, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, said yesterday that he wanted Parliament to reconvene as soon as possible, as it would allow MPs to debate the Emergency Ordinance and the government’s national recovery plan.
The Malay Rulers, who met yesterday, also said there was no need for
the nation to remain under a state of emergency after Aug 1 and wanted
state assemblies to also reconvene as soon as possible. - FMT, 14/6/2021
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