KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has filed for leave to initiate a judicial review over the government's decision to seek for an emergency proclamation two weeks ago.
In a statement today, Anwar's counsel, Ramkarpal Singh, said the application was filed at the High Court through Messrs Karpal Singh & Co. and naming Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the government as the defendants.
The application is to seek a declaration from the court that Muhyiddin's advice to the Yang-Di Pertuan Agong for an emergency proclamation was unconstitutional and unlawful.
"The application is not challenging the emergency proclamation, but only… the Prime Minister's decision to advise the King to approve the emergency ordinance.
"The ordinance also includes the suspension of Parliament sittings during the emergency," he said.
Ram Karpal who is also Bukit Gelugor Member of Parliament, said he hopes the court would fix a hearing date for the application as soon as possible.
On Jan 12, Comptroller of the Royal Household Datuk Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin, in a statement, said the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri' ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah had decreed that a State of Emergency be implemented to control the Covid-19 outbreak in the country.
"His Majesty decrees that the state of emergency be proclaimed until Aug 1, or until an earlier date, if the daily number of positive Covid-19 cases can be controlled and effectively lowered," said Ahmad Fadil.
Meanwhile, Muhyiddin later clarified that the state of emergency proclaimed by the King is not a military coup and assured the public that curfew will not be enforced.
A special committee would also be formed to monitor the situation during the emergency period and to make an assessment on when the state of emergency could be lifted.