The Agong has never to our recollection so openly rebuked the government of the day.
The whole nation now knows the government misled Parliament and the people on 26 July, when de facto law minister Takiyuddin Hassan told the House that six emergency ordinances had been revoked on 21 July.
The palace now says the Agong was not consulted before Takiyuddin’s announcement in Parliament.
Aliran is appalled at this shocking turn of events. It means the so-called ‘revocation’ was made without going through the proper procedure stipulated in the Federal Constitution.
It also means the Mahiaddin Yasin government has violated the Federal Constitution, which is why many lawmakers have accused the government of having committed treason.
Not only that, the government has been grossly disrespectful of the Agong. In a virtual meeting with the attorney general and Takiyuddin on 24 July, the Agong had expressly stated the emergency ordinances should be tabled before Parliament and debated.
This was ignored. The emergency declaration and emergency ordinances were not laid before Parliament because the government was fearful of being defeated if the revocation was put to a vote.
Disrespect of this nature is ironic coming from parties that often loudly claim they uphold race, religion and royalty.
To go to these lengths of deception is unprecedented in the annals of our history. It reflects an arrogance of being in power that has now culminated in an enormous abuse of power. This was first manifested in the ill-conceived bid to seek emergency rule and then to suspend Parliament and now, to top it all, mislead the House and the people about the revocation of the emergency ordinances.
Given the gravity of all this, Mahiaddin and his government have little choice but to resign immediately. And given their roles in perpetuating all this, the Speaker of Parliament and the attorney general should follow suit.
It is hard to see how all of them can function effectively, let alone be trusted by the people again.
It is time to end this ordeal. Never again should this nation have to go through such shameful events.
Aliran executive committee29 July 2021
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