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Kuala Lumpur: PKR President Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has filed a lawsuit against the Prime Minister and the Malaysian Government in a bid to have the court declare that Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin gave unlawful advice to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to suspend Parliament during the Emergency declared nationwide via an Emergency Ordinance.

In announcing the lawsuit, DAP’s Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh, who is a practising lawyer, said the application for leave for judicial review was filed on Monday by Anwar at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, with the lawsuit filed in Anwar’s capacity as the Opposition Leader in the Dewan Rakyat.

“Among reliefs sought in that application is a declaration from court that the Prime Minister’s advice to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to suspend Parliament during the period of the Emergency proclaimed recently is against the law and not in line with the Federal Constitution,” Ramkarpal, who is also DAP’s legal bureau chairman, said in a brief statement, Tuesday.

“It has to be stressed here that what is being challenged in that application is not the Proclamation of Emergency, but the decision of the prime minister (through the Cabinet) to advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to approve rule 14 of the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 2021 that suspends Parliament during the Emergency period. The Prime Minister’s advice is said to be in contravention of the law,” he added.

Ramkarpal said Anwar’s suit was filed by his law firm Karpal Singh & Co.

Muhyiddin was named a respondent in his capacity as Prime Minister. The Government of Malaysia was named as the other respondent.

“It is hoped that a date for the hearing of that application can be fixed as soon as possible,” Ramkarpal wrote. An aide to Anwar confirmed the lawsuit when contacted by Malay Mail. Anwar is also Port Dickson MP.

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong proclaimed a state of Emergency nationwide from January 11 to August 1, upon advice from Muhyiddin.

The Emergency Ordinance — which among other things suspends Parliament for as long as the country is in a state of Emergency — was gazetted on January 14 but took retrospective effect from January 11.

In his court filing, Anwar said he is seeking 10 declarations and court orders. Among them a declaration that Muhyiddin Cabinet’s decision to advise the Agong to promulgate or declare Section 14 of the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 2021 as a law enforced in Malaysia — which resulted in Parliament’s suspension — is unlawful, unconstitutional, null and void.

Anwar also wants the court to declare that the Muhyiddin Cabinet’s advice to the King — to promulgate Section 14 of the 2021 Emergency Ordinance — as being ultra vires or beyond the scope of their constitutional, statutory, express and implied duty as the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Anwar also wants a declaration that Section 14 itself is unlawful, and a separate declaration that the suspension of Parliament as a result of Section 14 is similarly unlawful and invalid.

Anwar also wanted two separate declarations that the Federal Constitution’s Article 150(6) and Article 150(8) are both unconstitutional and invalid, as the two provisions are inconsistent with Articles 4, 8 and 121 of the Federal Constitution.