“Agong our last bastion to reject UMNO’s inconsiderate GE15 motion”

DAP has called on the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to act at his discretion in the wake of UMNO’s insistence that the dissolution of Parliament must take place “soonest” and that the 15th General Election (GE15) “must be held this year”.

In a reaction to UMNO’s Supreme Council decision following a 90-minute meeting last night (Sept 30), DAP’s secretary-general Loke Siew Fook described such a stance as “arrogant”, “disrespectful” of the Federal Constitution and “ignoring” the power of discretion of the Agong when it comes to the dissolution of Parliament.

Anthony Loke Siew Fook

“It has never happened in the history of the country that an open statement regarding the dissolution of Parliament was issued before the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob) even appeared to get the approval of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong,” lambasted Loke in a media statement.

“Isn’t this an act of rebellion against the institution of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong?” he further asked.

Loke further reminded the ‘big brother’ of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition that it only has 38 members currently in Dewan Rakyat out of a total of 222 MPs or only 17% representatives of the Malaysian Parliament.

To recap, UMNO had issued a media statement last night (Sept 30) through its secretary-general, Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan which insisted that the “dissolution of the Parliament must take place soonest” and that “the 15th General Election (GE15) must be held this year”.

“Based on this decision, the YAB Prime Minister will present the proposed dissolution date to His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in accordance with Article 40 (1) of the Federal Constitution,” the statement added.

Loke further stressed that UMNO cannot be allowed to act arbitrarily as if they are still the largest majority party in the Parliament today.

“DAP will uphold and fully respect the decision of His Highness the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in the matter of dissolving Parliament in accordance with the principles and provisions in the Federal Constitution,” he pointed out.

“DAP believes that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong will use His Majesty’s discretion and wisdom to make the best decisions for the benefit of the people and the country.”

Loke was referring to Article 40(2) of the Federal Constitution which allocates discretionary powers to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to act at his discretion to perform the following functions:

  • Appoint a Prime Minister
  • Wthhold the request to dissolve Parliament,
  • The requisition of a meeting of the Conference of Rulers concerned solely with the privileges, position, honours and dignities of the Rulers. – Oct 1, 2022

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