KUALA LUMPUR – Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah has summoned Dewan Rakyat speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun and Dewan Negara speaker Tan Sri Rais Yatim to discuss the convening of Parliament before the current state of emergency ends on August 1.
A political insider told The Vibes that the heads of Parliament’s lower and upper houses received their respective invitations yesterday.
“They’ve been called to Istana Negara for an audience with His Majesty this Tuesday at 11am. I think the king wants to speak to them about opening Parliament before the emergency ends,” the source, who requested anonymity, said.
This would be the latest in a slew of meetings held at the national palace.
Two weeks ago, on June 9, Sultan Abdullah had summoned opposition chief and PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, and Amanah president Mohamad Sabu separately to discuss the state of the nation.
He had earlier met with Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin at around 8am for the pre-cabinet briefing.
On June 10, PAS deputy president Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, MCA president Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong, two-time former prime minister and Pejuang founder Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and Warisan president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal entered the palace gates.
The next day saw Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, MIC president Tan Sri S. Vigneswaran, and PBS supremo Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili being granted separate audiences.
On June 14, the king held a video discussion with the leaders of the Gabungan Parti Sarawak coalition in power at Kuching, and on June 15 he spoke with Tun Ariffin Zakaria, chairman of the Special Independent Committee on the Emergency.
This was finally followed with a meeting with his fellow rulers in the Conference of Rulers on June 16.
After conferring with the other nine royal households in the country, the Comptroller of the Royal Household Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin said that Sultan Abdullah had issued a decree to open Parliament as soon as possible.
However, the Agong’s demands were perhaps pre-emptively struck out by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin – a day before the royal announcement – who announced that Parliament will only convene next in September or October.
Later, de facto law minister Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan appeared to protect his boss’ interests by interpreting a loophole in Sultan Abdullah’s decree, saying that the king never specified the date that Parliament should assemble and that September or October was “soon enough”.
This led to a police report being lodged against Takiyuddin, with allegations of “derhaka” (treason) against the will of His Majesty.
Another move by the Perikatan Nasional administration to possibly stave off reconvening Parliament for as long as possible was also the statement issued by Attorney-General Tan Sri Idrus Harun yesterday, where he interpreted the law in favour of Bersatu president Muhyiddin.
He said that Sultan Abdullah can only call for Parliament to convene on the advice of the prime minister. – The Vibes, June 26, 2021
