THE Pakatan Harapan presidential council today urged lawmakers from both sides of the divide to meet in Parliament on July 19 if Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin doesn’t give a date for the house to sit.

The presidential council gave Muhyiddin until July 5 to give a reply to their request on when Parliament can meet again.

“If the prime minister does not make any announcement regarding the sitting of Parliament by July 5, then we urge all MPs, whether the opposition or the government, to come together on July 19,” it said in a statement.

The statement was signed by PKR president and opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and Amanah president Mohamad Sabu.

They said they are disappointed as Muhiyiddin and ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) have not issued anything concrete to uphold His Majesty’s decree regarding the sitting of Parliament before August 1.

On Tuesday, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong emphasised that Parliament should convene “as soon as possible”.

Comptroller of the Royal Household Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin said Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah had conveyed this to lower house speaker Azhar Azizan Harun and upper house president Dr Rais Yatim during an audience with them.

“During the one-hour session, which was also attended by Dewan Negara deputy president Mohamad Ali Mohamad and Dewan Rakyat deputy speakers Azalina Othman Said and Rashid Hasnon, the king reiterated that Parliament needs to convene immediately, adhering to guidelines and standard operating procedure put in place by the government.”

This, Ahmad Fadil said, is to allow the emergency proclamation and its ordinance to be tabled in Parliament as stipulated under Clause 150 of the federal constitution.

The presidential council said that Muhyiddin and his cabinet would be opposing the Agong and Malay rulers who have expressed the view that Parliament should convene soon.

“If the prime minister and his ministers still stubbornly rebel against His Majesty and the rulers, then they are responsible for triggering a constitutional crisis.”

They said that Parliament should convene to ensure effective efforts to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and solve the economic and daily-life problems faced by the people.

“The people are now so depressed that some have committed suicide and some have flown white flags.

“So this sitting of Parliament must focus on people’s issues and not political issues.”

De facto law minister Takiyuddin Hassan, in a statement, said the government has agreed to convene Parliament before August 1, and that the matter would be finalised in the cabinet meeting next Wednesday.

Parliament and state assembly sittings have until now been suspended because of the emergency order effective from January 11 to August 1. – July 2, 2021.