PARLIAMENT must meet before the emergency order expires on August 1, said Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah as he urged government parties to stop disputing the rulers’ role in Malaysia’s constitutional monarchy.

“I hope the public will support this petition for Parliament to meet as soon as possible.

“We want Parliament to convene before August 1 and not wait till October. The delay (by the government) is not about managing Covid-19 but maintaining its power,” said the 82-year-old Gua Musang lawmaker on a Facebook live session today.

Tengku Razaleigh was speaking at the launch of a public petition to urge the government to let Parliament meet before the end of the emergency order on August 1.

Although the Perikatan Nasional government has yet to state its position on when Parliament should meet following the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s decree last week, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has indicated that Parliament would only meet some time in September.

Following public criticisms, both heads of Parliament Dr Rais Yatim and Azhar Azizan Harun indicated that a hybrid session can only be held earliest by the first week of September.

But critics such as Tengku Razaleigh do not agree with this as they believe the government is delaying Parliament with the emergency order.

“The government has taken all sorts of actions but these have not improved the overall pandemic situation.

“They are merely stopgap measures that do not hit the target,” said Tengku Razaleigh.

More than that, he said, the emergency order by the government has also not helped the Covid-19 situation.

“It is only there for political reasons and has nothing to do with the people’s plight,” said the Umno veteran.

Following the king’s decree on June 16, Tengku Razaleigh said there was no need to delay Parliament any more or debate the meaning of “as soon as possible” or whether the Malay rulers should have said something about Parliament.

“The king and the Conference of Rulers have every right to intervene and they should not be stopped or disputed as this is in the federal constitution.

“Let’s get as many as possible to sign this petition to urge the government to let Parliament meet before August 1,” said Tengku Razaleigh. – June 28, 2021.