Former law minister wants to challenge shortened Parliament, MCO in court

Former Law Minister Liew Vui Keong said he has no choice but to consider court action against the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government as it has deprived the people of knowledge if the Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has the confidence of the parliament.

This was after it was decided that the Dewan Rakyat will convene an only one day sitting tomorrow with the only agenda being the lawmakers listening to Yang Di-Pertuan Agong's royal address.

Previously, Harapan has persistently called for the sitting to be extended with Liew (photo) submitting an emergency motion to extend it to eight days, but PN contended that prolonging the gathering of MPs could pose a Covid-19 contagion risk.

The Opposition MPs including Dr Mahathir Mohamad have also pushed for the tabling of a no-confidence motion against Muhyiddin.

"We will not stand by and just watch this government destroying our constitution.

"We all have a constitutional duty to ensure the constitution is not stolen by the backdoor govt. They (Perikatan) have now denied my right and the right of my constituency from hearing my motion," he said.

Liew was speaking as one of the speakers in Harapan's e-ceramah, which aired live on the Pakatan Harapan Facebook page yesterday.

He stressed that it's crucial for the Dewan Rakyat to determine if the Pagoh MP has the confidence of the house.

"If Pagoh has the confidence from the house, then he can proceed to table the bills and so on.

"Otherwise, he cannot tell the world that he is the Prime Minister of Malaysia. He has to prove that in the house first," he said.

He said the Perikatan government is at risk of breaching the Federal Constitution for postponing the dewan rakyat sitting for more than six months.

The last sitting was held in December last year.

"Now the question is, on May 18, they are only going to have the King's speech.

"The second part of the sitting will be done in July.

"This means the sitting is by installment, which starts in May and is resumed in July.

"Can they overcome the six-month period?"

For the record, Article 55 of the Federal Constitution obliges Parliament to sit within six months of the last Parliamentary session.

The Batu Sapi MP said while the government using Covid-19 and the movement control order (MCO) as the excuse to have only one day sitting, a lot of questions pertaining to Covid-19 regulations arise.

"What is social distancing in Malaysia? There is no law to explain what is social distancing.

"In Singapore, they have passed the law to define what is social distancing.

"If you have no law on social distancing, how can you go out and ask the police to arrest the people for not complying the social distancing order?" he said.

Liew further questioned the legality of the MCO.

"The whole MCO is in question whether it is valid or otherwise.

"I think it is illegal and this is the point I want to bring in court.

"I have looked at the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Regulations), it is very unclear as to whether they have defined Covid-19 as an infectious disease in the schedule.

"I have checked through the attorney-general website if they had gazetted it, there is none," he said.

The government has enforced the MCO since March 18 to flatten the curve of Covid-19 outbreak in the country. - Mkini