AT midnight tonight, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong will cease having the widespread powers bestowed upon him under the emergency ordinances.
To imagine that six months ago, the country was on tenterhooks when the emergency was announced on January 12 with the excuse of curtailing the Covid-19 pandemic, which had by then seen 141,533 infections and 559 deaths.
This followed the unsuccessful first attempt in October last year to declare an emergency. The Agong had stood his ground and refused the prime minister’s request for such a declaration.
Today, six months on from the emergency declaration, we are at 1,095,486 Covid-19 cases and 8,859 deaths (as of July 30), and hours away from a return to parliamentary democracy. And, Malaysians have never been more afraid.
Ironically, the emergency, while vesting so much power in the executive branch, also empowered the Agong to expand His Majesty’s role as a constitutional monarch with the authority to promulgate laws.
These have been widely discussed by legal experts far more qualified than I am here:
Seeking solutions to a constitutional crisis – Rajan Navaratnam
King has less than 48 hours to remove PM
Yes, the king can call for Parliament to reconvene – Rajan Navaratnam
As these experts suggest, the Agong has vested powers to call for a sitting of Parliament, to debate specific matters and even to determine if the current prime minister still has the support of the majority of the members of the House.
Based on the performance of the Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin administration so far, one is fearful of the restoration of this government’s powers and the diminishing ones of the king.
Despite the emergency, the unelected Perikatan Nasional administration has failed to curtail the pandemic, and its catastrophic handling of the economic recovery and numerous iterations of the movement control order has seen hundreds of Malaysians literally starving and dying from depression-induced suicides, as well as doctors having to decide who lives and who dies due to an overwhelmed public healthcare system.
Nevertheless, a return to parliamentary democracy was once believed to be the only way to unseat this government, or at the very least, remove the prime minister.
However, parliamentary processes and conventions will not save the country from this government – unless the speaker does not do what one expects him to do: shoot down any motion of confidence, and allow only government motions to debate matters relating to the pandemic and National Recovery Plan.
The behaviour of this administration to be publicly “kurang ajar” against the king is unprecedented and shocking.
Even the 1993 constitutional crisis that removed the immunity of sultans from prosecution did not witness such belligerence from then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as we have seen from Muhyiddin in recent days.
Instead of seeking an audience with the king to air out issues after Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah issued a statement to address the backdating of the revocation of emergency ordinances to July 21, Muhyiddin decided to respond curtly and publicly.
(The Agong had said His Majesty did not consent to the revocation, and that Law Minister Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan confused the Dewan Rakyat.)
Citing Article 40 of the federal constitution, Muhyiddin attempted to put His Majesty in his place, claiming that the king acts on the prime minister’s advice.
If that is the case, why did Muhyiddin abide by His Majesty’s decision on October 25 last year not to declare an emergency then?
If a prime minister can be so openly belligerent and disrespectful against a reigning monarch, one can only imagine how he will treat a regular person.
One must remember that while the emergency may be lifted, ordinances can continue to be enacted under the Emergency (Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases) (Amendment) Ordinance 2021.
This includes the control of movement, tracking individuals, the dissemination of information via online platforms and the media, and even the reconvening of Parliament.
Basically, it is an emergency without royal oversight.
Government chief whip and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the administration has more than 110 MPs supporting it.
The king can determine which MP has majority support in the Dewan Rakyat by summoning all living MPs to the palace or having a virtual meeting with them individually.
His Majesty, in his wisdom, can then appoint a new prime minister, or if he is satisfied, consent to the current leadership continuing to administer. The latter, at the moment, does not seem like a viable choice.
Yesterday, a letter purportedly from the king to the prime minister went viral.
Briefly, the letter appears to be an admonishment of Muhyiddin and Takiyuddin for misrepresenting an audience with the Agong on the revocation of emergency ordinances, and also the king doubling down in asserting that the powers to revoke ordinances lie with His Majesty.
The palace, usually quick to deny fake news, was silent this time. Istana Negara officials even told The Vibes that no statement addressing the letter will be issued – leaving us to speculate on its authenticity. And if it is genuine, was it deliberately leaked to demonstrate the king’s position, which is to uphold the law and public interest, and to prevent this country from descending into authoritarianism? – The Vibes, July 31, 2021
Terence Fernandez is editor-in-chief of PETRA News and managing editor of The Vibes
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