Lim said this was necessary to ease business uncertainty caused by speculation about GE15, adding that Ismail needed to be decisive as dilly-dallying over the matter only made him look “weak”.

“By keeping the nation on tenterhooks, Ismail is not only disrupting the running of the government but also the investment climate in the country,” he said in a statement.

The former finance minister said businesses hated uncertainty and would postpone investment decisions until there was “certainty, clarity and consistency” in government policy.

“By tomorrow, either Parliament is dissolved, or Ismail should explicitly state its exact date to ease business uncertainty,” he said, reiterating that GE15 should only be held next year.

Yesterday, Ismail said the decision to propose the dissolution of Parliament was his prerogative as the prime minister and stressed that other political parties had no say in the matter.

Grassroots leaders had told FMT that Umno’s top five leaders had already agreed on a date for GE15. The “top five” refers to the Umno president, deputy president, and three vice-presidents.

While the agenda of yesterday’s gathering with division leaders was kept under wraps, the Umno sources said party leaders did not reveal the exact date as they could not be seen as pre-empting the King.