Today may be the day

7
The constitution overrides the law so any situation based on the law cannot stand up against the constitution. Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar Parliament Deputy Speaker

The constitution overrides the law so any situation based on the law cannot stand up against the constitution.
Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar Parliament Deputy Speaker

Deputy Speaker says parliament has always been dissolved before expiry date of any state assemblies, expects Najib to do the same today

KUCHING: The parliament will be dissolved today if Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak were to maintain the trend set by previous prime ministers of dissolving parliament before any of the state assemblies expired.

Parliament Deputy Speaker Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar made this observation to The Borneo Post when contacted yesterday.

He hoped Najib would not buck this trend saying that today’s automatic dissolution of the Negri Sembilan’s State Legislative Assembly would likely prompt the prime minister to dissolve parliament today.

Even if Najib did not dissolve the parliament today, he would have to do so before its expiry date on April 28 as the Election Commission have to call for general elections before May 27 to accommodate Negri Sembilan’s state election which must be held 60 days from its expiry today.

The present situation has given rise to speculations and conjectures in the social media, one of which argued that Najib could refrain from dissolving the parliament by holding a parliamentary meeting on or before April 28 and claims that the present parliament could hold on to not more than six months after the last meeting by virtue of the law.

When asked about these arguments, Wan Junaidi stressed that all possible scenarios based on law could not override conditions set by the constitution.

“The constitution overrides the law so any situation based on the law cannot stand up against the constitution.”

He pointed out that one minute after midnight on April 28, the parliament would expire and the Election Commission (EC) by virtue of the constitution would have 60 days to call for the 13th general election.

“As soon as parliament expires, a caretaker government takes over.”

He explained that the caretaker government would still be able to function as usual except that it would not be able to change any policy and sign any legal treaty with any other country.

On the other hand, Wan Junaidi who is also a lawyer by profession explained that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong by virtue of the constitution has the absolute right over the dissolution of parliament after the expiry date.

He added that the general election could also be postponed if a state of emergency was declared by the Agong.

“The general election would be suspended and postponed if a state of emergency is declared by the Yang diPertuan Agong as in the case of May 13, 1969.

“But as far as I am concerned there is no reason for such a thing to happen. So now the dissolution of parliament is the prerogative of the prime minister to advice the Yang diPertuan Agong,” he explained.