KUALA LUMPUR – Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has filed an application at the high court to refer various questions to the Federal Court, in view of a suit challenging the government’s decision to seek a proclamation of emergency.
Anwar’s lawyer and Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh said the application contained various questions posed in relation to the judicial review of the cabinet’s advice led by the prime minister to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to promulgate Section 14 of the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 2021.
Ramkarpal said among the questions included for the reference to the Federal Court are:
1. Whether the decision to give the advice and/or the advice given by cabinet led by the prime minister to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to suspend Parliament is subject to the ouster clauses in Article 150 of the federal constitution;
2. Whether the decision to give the advice and/or the advice given by cabinet led by the Prime Minister to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to suspend Parliament is reviewable by the courts;
3. Whether Section 39 (2) of the Malaysia Act, 1963 (Act 26/1963), Section 15 (d) of the Constitutional (Amendment) Act, 1981 (Act A514), Article 150 (6) and (8) of the federal constitution are inconsistent and/or in contravention to Articles 4, 5, 8 and 121 (1) of the federal constitution; and,
4. Whether the inherent jurisdiction of the courts, including the powers of review in relation to procedure, can be completely inhibited/ousted, by the legislature.
"I am of the view the questions raised above ought to be decided by the Federal Court and, having regard to the urgency of the matter, particularly since Parliament is now suspended, I have also filed a certificate of urgency for the matter to be heard soonest," Ramkarpal added in his statement today.
On January 26, the Port Dickson MP had filed the suit in his capacity as opposition leader in the Dewan Rakyat at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
He is seeking a court declaration that Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin gave unlawful advice to the king to suspend Parliament while the country is under emergency rule.
“Among the reliefs sought in that application is a declaration from the court that the prime minister’s advice to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to suspend Parliament during the period of the emergency proclaimed recently is against the law and not in line with the federal constitution,” said Ramkarpal, who is also DAP’s legal bureau chairman.
“It has to be stressed here that, what is being challenged in that application is not the proclamation of emergency, but the decision of the prime minister (through the cabinet) to advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to approve Rule 14 of the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 2021 that suspends Parliament during the emergency period. The prime minister’s advice is said to be in contravention of the law.”
As the “advice is against the law”, Ramkarpal said he hopes an early hearing date will be fixed.
Anwar had said he would file such an application to ensure the right to a parliamentary sitting, claiming that a majority of MPs wanted the same. – The Vibes, February 8, 2021
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