IT is not enough for the government to have “laid” the emergency ordinances on MPs tables and consider that sufficient in deciding to cancel the ordinances, the Pakatan Harapan legal committee said today.

“It is a most dishonest argument. There must be debate and voting for Parliament to pass a resolution (to annul the ordinances),” the committee led by Selayang MP William Leong said in a statement.

It was referring to the explanation by the Prime Minister’s Office’s yesterday after the palace’s rebuke of the government’s hasty move to revoke the emergency ordinances effective July 21 without royal assent.

The PMO said it had acted in accordance with laws and the constitution, noting that the ordinances had been “laid” on MPs tables when the Dewan Rakyat sat on Monday, July 26.

Opposition MPs called for debate but were denied by the speaker. 

In response to the calls for debate, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Parliament) Takiyuddin Hassan announced that debate was unnecessary since the ordinances had been revoked on July 21.

“The interpretation by the cabinet that Article 150(3) is satisfied by having the proclamation of emergency and the emergency ordinances being ‘laid’ on the MPs table is a most dishonest argument. This argument fails to give effect to the words: 

“‘A Proclamation of Emergency and any ordinance shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament… shall cease to have effect if resolutions are passed by both Houses annulling such Proclamation or ordinance’,” the PH legal committee said. 

It added that Takiyuddin misled Parliament and the public when he announced the revocation on July 21, when this was not true. 

“Only the Yang di-Pertuan Agong can revoke the proclamation and ordinances and the revocation can only take effect when it is gazetted, which has not been done,” the committee added.

It also said the PMO’s statement, which explained the different dates when the king was informed of the cabinet’s intention to cancel the ordinances, justified wrongful actions and even suggests that the king had misrepresented facts in the palace’s statement.

“This is in an affront to the royal Institution and to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong himself. 

“The truth and the fact of the matter is that the cabinet has wilfully and deliberately treated the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s instructions with total disdain by failing to act as instructed. This is disobedience at the most serious level,” the committee said.

The cabinet has also wrongfully treated the king as “a mere rubber stamp or mouthpiece” without respect for the monarch’s position “as a symbol of stability, national unity and guardian of the constitution”, it added.

This was in reference to the PMO’s reminder to the king that the monarch had to act on the advice of the government.

“In the circumstances, the Perikatan Nasional government has committed serious breaches and misconduct (and) must resign immediately.” – July 30, 2021.