Agong’s discretion to consent to request to dissolve parliament
(The Star) – A PKR lawmaker has called the top five Umno leaders oligarchs for pushing for the 15th General Election (GE15) to be held this year.
Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim said the top five Umno leaders did not have legal powers in pressuring Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to dissolve Parliament to allow GE15 to be held in a situation where Malaysia was threatened with monsoon floods.
“Umno secretary general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan highlighted that Article 40(1) of the Federal Constitution is where the Yang di-Pertuan Agong must act on the advice of the Prime Minister.
“The Pontian MP tries to hide the fact that the Federal Constitution gave discretion to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to agree or reject the Prime Minister’s request to dissolve Parliament under Article 40(2)(b),” he said in a statement here on Saturday (Oct 1).
Hassan added that Malaysia was a country which practised parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy.
He said the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s discretionary power under Article 40 (2)(b) would ensure that the Parliament was not dissolved at will by the ruling political party.
“Our Federal Constitution gives a guarantee that Malaysia does not fall into the hands of oligarchs like the Umno top five,” he added.
An oligarchy is a political system where a small group of people have control of a country or organisation.
Hassan said Umno was pushing for GE15 before the court handed its decision against its president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi by December.
The top five refers to Ahmad Zahid, Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan and three vice-presidents – Ismail Sabri, Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin and Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid.
On Friday (Sept 30), Ahmad Maslan said Ismail Sabri is set to seek an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to present a few possible dates to dissolve Parliament.
He added this was among the decisions made during the party’s supreme council meeting held at the KL World Trade Centre.
“The dissolution of Parliament must be done at the soonest possible time to allow GE15 to be held by this year.
“Based on this decision, the Prime Minister will present the proposed dates of dissolution to the King, in line with Article 40(1) of the Federal Constitution,” he said.
