Govt seeks to quash suit over King's refusal for emergency last October

KUALA LUMPUR: The government has today filed an application to quash a lawyer's original suit over Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah's decision in refusing to act on the advice of Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to declare a state of emergency last year.

The application filed through the Federal Counsel was to revoke the originating summons filed by Dr Syed Iskandar Syed Jaafar Al Mahdzar as the plaintiff on Oct 30 last year, under Rule 18 rule 19 (1) (b) or (d) of the Rules of Court 2012 and to suspend all proceedings related to the suit, pending hearing and disposal of the application.

The application was also made on the grounds that the suit is vexatious, frivolous and an abuse of court process.

Solicitor-general Datuk Abdul Razak Musa through his affidavit of support filed with the application said the plaintiff had failed to identify what rights of his had been violated further from the decision or the personal losses suffered as a result of the decision.

He said the plaintiff's suit did not contain any relief that would benefit any party and only contained general and academic questions that would make hearing of the case a waste of court time.

"The provisions of Article 150 (8) of the Federal Constitution clearly states that the jurisdiction of this court is exempted from entertaining or deciding on any application to dispute or challenge any decision of Al-Sultan Abdullah on the emergency declaration.

"The determination of the questions (raised in the suit) will not have any effect on the decision (Al-Sultan Abdullah's decision not to accede to Muhyiddin's initial advice to declare an emergency)," he said.

Syed Iskandar filed the preliminary suit naming the Malaysian government as sole defendant, seeking the court to determine among others, whether based on Articles 40 and 150 of the Federal Constitution, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong has full discretion not to declare an emergency even if the Prime Minister or Cabinet advises otherwise.

The plaintiff also questioned whether Act 514 (Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994) which amended Article 150 by adding clauses (8) and (9) is in violation of the Federal Constitution and is therefore void and invalid.

On Oct 25 last year, Al-Sultan Abdullah said there was no necessity for an Emergency to be declared in the country as he felt the government under the Prime Minister would continue to implement policies and enforcement to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic effectively.

-- BERNAMA