Jailed de facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has described Umno’s claims of being protectors of the royal institution as “false propaganda,” pointing to Putrajaya’s refusal to restore the mandatory royal assent requirement for new parliamentary bills.

“I am appalled by the stand taken by Umno on this issue.

“It proves their constant claims that they are protectors of the royal institution and the interests of Malays are nothing but false propaganda to hoodwink the Malays into supporting Umno-BN,” he said in a statement.

In a parliamentary written reply last month, Umno Pengerang MP Azalina Othman Said said that the government had not come up with any proposal to restore mandatory royal assent, saying that it would require "more extensive and in-depth research.”

She was responding to PKR lawmaker N Surendran’s query on whether the government intends to amend Clause 4(a) of Article 66 of the Federal Constitution to make the assent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong mandatory for a bill to become law.

In his statement, Anwar said the removal of the requirement had led to abuse of power, particularly with the gazetting into law of the National Security Act 2016.

Concerns had been raised as to the wide-ranging emergency powers conferred upon the prime minister by the act and if this may give rise to abuse of power.

The Council of Malay Rulers had expressed reservations over the act and had requested for it to be fine-tuned but this was ignored.

The National Security Council Bill later became law at the end of its 30-day period without the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s express assent as permitted by Article 66(4A) of the Federal Constitution.

The article states that even if a bill does not receive the king’s formal endorsement, it will automatically become law after 30 days.

Earlier this year, Anwar filed a legal challenge at the Federal Court against a number of laws that abrogate the mandatory requirement for bills to be assented to by the king.

Besides challenging the constitutionality of the NSC Act, Anwar was seeking to have three laws introduced between 1983 and 1994 declared unconstitutional for affecting the basic structure of the constitution.

Revisit the issue

In particular, he wants Section 12 of the Constitutional Act 1983 (Amendment), Section 2 of the Constitutional Act 1984 (Amendment) and Section 8 of the Constitutional Act Amendment 1994 to be declared ultra vires of Article 4(1) of the Federal Constitution, on the grounds that Parliament had no right to pass such amendments.

Anwar pointed out that the mandatory requirement for royal assent functions to maintain “constitutional balance” between the executive and the monarchy.

"A restoration of the mandatory requirement of the royal assent is imperative to maintain the constitutional balance between the elected government and our hereditary monarchy.

"It will also preserve and protect the role and position of the Malay rulers and the integrity of our constitutional monarchy," he had said.

In his statement today, he criticised Putrajaya for opposing his pending application in the Federal Court, and vowed that Pakatan Harapan would restore this “balance.”

“I am disgusted that despite claiming to be protectors of the royal Institution, the Umno-BN government through its lawyers are fighting my legal action in the courts every inch of the way.

“I reiterate here Harapan's position and commitment to protect the integrity of the constitution and the preservation of the crucial role of the royal institution in our constitutional framework.

“A Harapan government will revisit this issue with a view to amend the constitution in order to restore the proper constitutional balance as envisaged at Merdeka, and to protect the position of the Malay rulers,” he said.