King needs to 'accept and act according to' Cabinet’s advice on Emergency Ordinances revocation, says PMO

KUALA LUMPUR (July 29): The Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement to say that The Yang di-Pertuan Agong needs to accept and act according to the advice of the Cabinet on the revocation of Emergency Ordinances effective July 21.

“The Government is of the view that all actions taken were orderly and in line with the requirements of the law and the Federal Constitution,” said PMO in the statement.

The statement was published about seven hours after the Palace’s statement that the King was disappointed that the Cabinet had decided to revoke the Emergency Ordinances promulgated during the state of emergency without receiving his consent.

The PMO statement, however, did not state whether the King had indeed provided his consent on the advice and the decision to revoke the ordinances.

This is in line with Section 40 of the Federal Constitution, PMO said in a statement to explain its position over the process of the revocation after the King stated he had not given consent to the revocation.

PMO stressed the Cabinet had decided in its meeting on July 21 to advise the King to revoke all the ordinances. This is because the Emergency Proclamation will not be extended beyond its original deadline of Aug 1, the statement said.

Subsequently, the Attorney-General’s Office provided a draft of the Emergency Ordinance (Revocation) 2021 on July 22.

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin then submitted a letter to the King on July 23 to inform about the Cabinet’s advice to the King, and requested the King’s consent for the matter.

“Subsequently, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on July 24 instructed the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) [Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan] and the Attorney-General [Tan Sri Idrus Harun] to meet to explain about the advice,” the statement said.

As the subsequent Dewan Rakyat sitting on July 26 raised the question about the status of the King’s consent over the decision, PMO said the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General requested to meet the King the next day to provide further explanation.

“In this meeting, the Prime Minister again provided the advice of the Cabinet on the revocation of the Emergency Ordinances, and explained the Opposition’s attempt to cause confusion in the Dewan Rakyat sitting.

“Aside from that, the Parliament session that occurred is a Special Meeting organised under Dewan Rakyat Standing Order 11(3), where the agenda is the explanation by Ministers without any motion to touch on the Emergency Ordinances,” it said.

“The Government is of the view that all actions taken were orderly and in line with the requirements of the law and the Federal Constitution,” the statement added.

At around noon, the Palace issued a statement that the King was disappointed that the Cabinet had decided to revoke the Emergency Ordinances promulgated during the state of emergency without receiving his consent.

The palace also stressed that the July 26 statement by Law Minister Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan to Parliament on the cancellation of the ordinances was inaccurate and had confused the MPs as the agreement was to have the ordinances debated in Parliament.

The matter resulted in calls for the Prime Minister’s resignation together with the Cabinet for going against the decree of the King.

The five-day Dewan Rakyat Special Meeting will resume on its last day on Monday.

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