Bukit Aman probes Anwar for urging Agong to revoke emergency

Police in Bukit Aman are investigating PKR chief Anwar Ibrahim over a statement he posted online calling on the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to cancel the emergency declaration, MalaysiaNow has learnt.

Perak police chief Mior Faridalathrash Wahid confirmed receiving a police report against the politician, saying it had been referred to Bukit Aman.

“We only assisted in recording the statement, after which we will submit the report to them (Bukit Aman),” he told MalaysiaNow.

The report claimed that Anwar had committed sedition by questioning the Agong’s constitutional power to declare emergency rule.

On Jan 12, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah consented to a proclamation of emergency in a move to help efforts to combat the sharp spike in Covid-19 cases nationwide.

The move was also seen as a way of ensuring political stability throughout the pandemic season, in the face of threats by several Umno MPs to revoke their support for the ruling bloc.

Article 150 of the Federal Constitution empowers the Agong to declare a state of emergency where parliament can be suspended, if he is satisfied that the economy and public order are under threat.

The move drew criticism from several opposition leaders, with Anwar announcing a letter-writing campaign to get MPs to request the Agong to revoke the proclamation.

Anwar had also prepared a draft of the letter to be sent to the palace, and told MPs that Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s move to declare an emergency was not valid.

He later said he was not questioning the Agong’s powers.

Yesterday, he filed a suit to get the court to declare Muhyiddin’s advice to suspend Parliament during the emergency as unconstitutional, rewording his earlier call upon the Agong to revoke the emergency.

Mior said two other reports had been lodged in Kuala Lumpur and Seremban, aside from the report lodged in Perak.

He said the investigations are being carried out under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code on causing public alarm and fear leading to offences detrimental to public peace, and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act on the misuse of the internet.

In the police report filed in Perak, activist Khalil Idham Lim Abdullah said Anwar had challenged the authority of the Agong stated in Article 150(8) of the constitution.

According to the clause, the Agong’s decision is “final and conclusive”, and will not be subjected to any jurisdiction by the court to challenge its validity “in whatever form, on any grounds”.

“So if the Federal Constitution states that it cannot be challenged and questioned on whatever grounds in any court, it follows too that it cannot be challenged and questioned outside the court,” Khalil said in his report sighted by MalaysiaNow.

He said Anwar’s action was serious as he wields influence as the parliamentary opposition leader and the chairman of Pakatan Harapan.

Khalil added that a Facebook post by Anwar on the matter had been removed.