Malaysia’s constitutional monarch delivered an unprecedented rebuke of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s administration on Thursday (July 29), accusing the government’s law minister of “misleading” Parliament over the alleged revocation of emergency ordinances that have been in effect since January to stem a rising tide of Covid-19 infections.
A strongly-worded statement issued by the Istana Negara, or national palace, accused the government of issuing “conflicting and confusing statements” earlier this week in Parliament that had not only “failed to respect the sovereignty” of the nation’s laws, but “sidelined the function and powers” of the king as enshrined in the federal constitution.
King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah was “very disappointed” in particular by the conduct of de facto law minister Takiyuddin Hassan and Attorney-General Idrus Harun, who the palace said had failed to fulfill their promise to table and debate the annulment of the emergency ordinances in a special legislative session that opened on Monday (July 26).
The emergency proclamation, which the king assented to earlier this year, effectively suspended Parliament and state legislatures, disallowed elections and gave the premier powers to enact emergency ordinances without legislative scrutiny, supposedly to enable the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government to more effectively manage the health crisis.
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Nile Bowie is a journalist and correspondent with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.
