Syed Iskandar Syed Jaafar Al-Mahdzar said no citizen could sue the constitutional monarch but could legally challenge the advice given to the King by a minister or the Cabinet.
“Constitutionally, the King has to act on advice even in the current emergency and he cannot be questioned. Only the advice given can be challenged,” he said.
The lawyer cited the case of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who advised the Queen to prorogue Parliament for five weeks at the height of the Brexit crisis in 2019.
“However, a citizen filed a legal challenge and the Supreme Court ruled that the advice was unlawful,” he told FMT.
Syed Iskandar said this in response to an emotional appeal by a man to the Agong and the Malay rulers last week to intervene due to the worsening pandemic.
Known only as Azizi, the man made the appeal while on a phone call in a live YouTube session hosted by Mustapa Mansor Amer Mohd Isa, the Otai Reformist deputy president.
The call started with Azizi commenting that the government seemed unable to manage the present situation, which has seen record numbers of cases, deaths, and clusters announced last week.
He said the implementation of a total lockdown during the movement control order 3.0 would only cripple businesses.
“We need Parliament to reconvene now. I beg all the Sultans to step in, do something to help the people. We are all suffering,” he said.
Parliament has been suspended since Jan 12 following the declaration of an eight-month state of emergency to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. The emergency will last until Aug 1, or an earlier date if Covid-19 cases are reduced and stabilised.
Lawyer Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali, however, said that in an emergency, the executive authority reverted to the King, based on the power granted to the monarch like promulgating ordinances.
“Further, the King could resort to ‘extraneous factors’ when the prime minister is said to have lost the majority support of MPs to administer the country,” he said.
Rafique was referring to the 2010 Federal Court ruling where the Sultan of Perak sacked Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin as menteri besar and appointed Zambry Abdul Kadir without having to take a floor vote in the legislative assembly.
The ruler had interviewed all 59 assemblymen to conclude that Nizar no longer enjoyed the support of the majority to remain as head of government.
Rafique said a wartime Cabinet or unity government could be formed to replace the present government which was struggling to work for the nation and the people.
He said the constitution also allowed the Conference of Rulers to meet and discuss pressing issues that it thought fit.
“In this regard, Section 6 of the 5th Schedule in the constitution empowers the King or at least three other Rulers to call for a meeting,” he said.
Lawyer M Manogaran said that legally, it appeared that voters were left with no remedy once they had elected their MPs to the Dewan Rakyat.
“The 222 MPs decided who was the PM and which coalition administered the nation when the voters actually gave the mandate to Pakatan Harapan in 2018,” said the former Teluk Intan MP.
He said a suit filed by 10 Gombak voters against Azmin Ali for alleged deceit and breach of fiduciary duty as MP was a test case to determine if elected representatives could act at their “whims and fancies” until the dissolution of the Dewan Rakyat.
“It is hoped that the court will interpret the constitution and written laws broadly and provide a relief that voters are always the masters of their elected representatives,” Manogaran added.