KUALA LUMPUR (April 25): UMNO is proposing to the government that the Parliament and state legislative assemblies reconvene during the emergency, said UMNO secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan.
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He said the matter was decided at the UMNO Supreme Council meeting today, which is also in line with the statement of Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah who expressed the view that the Parliament could convene during an emergency.
Ahmad said the primary rational considered on the matter is that the government cannot be seen as attempting to impede the practice of parliamentary democracy.
“Parliament and the state legislative assembly are the platform for checks and balances by the people’s representatives so that the government does not act at its whims and fancies leading to the interest and welfare of the people being marginalised today,” he said after the meeting here today.
Earlier, Al-Sultan Abdullah had expressed his view that Parliament could convene during the emergency in effect now at a date deemed suitable by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the advice of the prime minister.
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The matter is enshrined in sub-section 14(1) (b) of the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 2021 which states that the Parliament shall convene, prorogue, and dissolve on such a date as His Majesty deems fit on the advice of the prime minister.
At the same time, Ahmad said special standard operating procedures (SOPs) should be developed to enable the Parliament and state legislative assembly sessions to be held as practised by countries all over the world.
Meanwhile, he said UMNO would be sending a letter to the director-general of the Registrar of Societies and the director-general of the National Security Council to seek advice and guidelines to hold its party election this year.
He said the matter is in line with the regulations enshrined in the party’s constitution and Covid-19 SOPs.
Apart from that, Ahmad said the meeting also insisted through UMNO ministers for the government to quickly set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate the exposures revealed in the book written by the former attorney general Tan Sri Tommy Thomas following a number of police reports made on the matter.-BERNAMA