THE king has the power to convene a Parliament sitting during a state of emergency, said Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

“So long as the (federal) constitution is there and you practise parliamentary democracy, you can have a Parliament sitting,” the 12-term MP told The Malaysian Insight in his office in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

Tengku Razaleigh added that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong need not wait for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to advise him before convening a sitting.

“This is because if the prime minister does not want to advise the Agong to convene a Parliament sitting, then we are all dead ducks,” said the 84-year-old Umno lawmaker.

He said the Agong has absolute power in a state of emergency.

“He even has the power to get rid of the prime minister and the cabinet today as he is in command during an emergency,” said the former finance minister.

Tengku Razaleigh, who has been a vocal critic of the Muhyiddin administration, was commenting on whether the government will convene a sitting after the Yang di-Pertuan Agong said Parliament can meet during a state of emergency.

In January, Muhyiddin had advised Agong to declare a state of emergency under the pretext of curbing the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. But his critics said the emergency proclamation was aimed at stalling the March Parliament sitting after two Umno MPs withdrew their support for Muhyiddin.

Although Muhyiddin has since added two former PKR MPs (Tebrau and Julau) to his side, his critics estimate that he only has 111 MPs supporting him.

Tengku Razaleigh is one of the many critics who have questioned Muhyiddin’s support in the 222-member Dewan Rakyat.

He said that in 2020, Muhyiddin cleverly got the leaders of the various parties (Umno, GPS, PAS and Bersatu) to tell the Agong that he had the numbers

“They just added Umno (43), PAS (18), GPS (18) and others and presented it to the Agong.

“But Muhyiddin has never been tested to see if he has 112 although he said he has 130. I have pushed for Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s vote of no-confidence to be debated in Parliament but it has not been allowed to move up the Order Paper.”

“This is the only way for the king to know for sure if Muhyiddin has the support of the house. Not by showing statutory declarations,” said Tengku Razaleigh.

“This is bunkums. The only requirement under the constitution is a vote on the floor (Dewan Rakyat)

“If he has 112 MPs or more supporting him, he is in. But if he has fewer than 112, he is out,” said the Gua Musang MP.

He said the confidence vote is important for the country as investors will only invest in a country that has a stable leadership.

“But because of the instability of the government, nobody wants to put their money here until they are assured that Malaysia will be stable.” – March 12, 2021.