After suing PM and government, Khairuddin seeks judicial review on AG’s endorsement of emergency.
Former Umno leader files legal action over emergency declaration and takes AG to court claiming he had failed to execute his constitutional duty to advise the King that the prime minister no longer had majority support.
Former Umno leader Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan has filed a second legal action over the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong’s emergency declaration, and this time he is taking Attorney-General (AG) Tan Sri Idrus Harun to court.
Khairuddin filed a judicial review application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court, yesterday (Wednesday) through law firm Messrs Haniff Khatri, naming Idrus as the sole respondent.
In his judicial review bid, Khairuddin is seeking a court declaration that the AG’s action to join Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the Cabinet members to meet the King on Jan 11 for the purpose of applying for the emergency is invalid and against the law.
In the filing, Khairuddin asserted that Muhyiddin was in no position to advise the Agong to declare the Emergency after seemingly losing majority support in Parliament.
He is also seeking for a declaration that Idrus had failed to execute his constitutional duty as an AG from Jan 9 to advise the YDP Agong that Muhyiddin did not have the majority support of the MPs and therefore unfit to provide any advice as the Prime Minister.
On Jan 9, Machang MP Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub withdrew his support for the Perikatan Nasional administration under Muhyiddin, resulting in a drop in PN’s majority to 110 out of 220 lawmakers in Parliament.
Khairuddin also seeks a mandamus order to compel Idrus to advise Muhyiddin that he (Muhyiddin) no longer prima facie has the support of the majority of MPs, following the withdrawal of support not only by Jazlan but also by Padang Rengas MP Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz.
On Jan 12, Nazri announced his retraction of support to Muhyiddin, because the premier’s move to seek the Agong’s consent and declare a nationwide emergency is an indirect admission that the Pagoh MP has lost his majority support in Parliament.
On Jan 18, Khairuddin filed a lawsuit against Muhyiddin challenging the latter’s advice to Agong to declare an emergency.
He named Muhyiddin and the government as the defendants.
In the suit he filed by way of an originating summons, Khairuddin is seeking for the court to hear and decide on four important constitutional questions.
Among others, he wants the court to decide on whether or not it was unlawful and unconstitutional for a Prime Minister who had lost the confidence of the majority of the members of the Dewan Rakyat to advise the King to declare an emergency.
He is also seeking for the court to decide on whether the Prime Minister had acted in fraudem legis (fraud of law) when he advised the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, in a state where he no longer has majority support, to remain as the Prime Minister.
Khairuddin, after leaving Bersatu became a member of Parti Amanah Negara, and had July last year withdrawn from Pakatan Harapan.
Khairuddin, who is known to be a loyalist to Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, is not currently known to have any affiliation to any political party.
Recently, Dewan Rakyat Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had also filed his own lawsuit, which was followed by three more opposition lawmakers, in their bids to contest the constitutionality of the Emergency Declaration and the processes surrounding it.