KUALA LUMPUR (June 27): The Pakatan Harapan presidential council has called for Tan Sri Idrus Harun to be fired as Attorney-General (AG), saying his public statement about the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s powers to reconvene Parliament was a breach of confidentiality and treasonous.
In a statement, the council said the AG had gone against normal practice, as according to Article 145(2) of the Federal Constitution, he is obliged to advise the King, Cabinet or ministers on any legal matters.
“It is clear that the AG should give his views directly to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and keep them confidential, and not announce them to the public as he had done,” said the council in a statement signed by PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Amanah chief Mohamad Sabu and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.
“This statement is a form of ‘breach of confidentiality’ between a lawyer and client.
“With this breach, he is thus unfit to be a lawyer, what more the AG. Therefore, the AG’s statement is a form of treason against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, and he must be fired immediately,” they added.
The council also slammed the statement, saying it denigrated the views of the Malay rulers.
“It has set aside the spirit of the constitution and shows that the AG has set aside the institution of the Malay rulers to protect a government that wants perpetual, absolute power with no controls,” it said.
On Friday, Idrus had issued a statement saying that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong must act on the advice of the Cabinet in exercising his power to convene Parliament, as provided for by the Federal Constitution.
He added that the Emergency Ordinance does not nullify this requirement.
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