All eyes will be on Istana Negara today

Focus

By NUR IFTITAH ROZLAN

06 Oct 2022 11:25am

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob confirmed that he will meet the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on Thursday.

SHAH ALAM - All eyes will be on Istana Negara today as it is confirmed that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob will be meeting the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah.

The public’s focus will certainly be on the heated issue that has become the talk of the town which was the announcement of the dissolution of Parliament.

It is understood that media personnel have started to “camp” outside the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) as well as Istana Negara as Ismail Sabri was scheduled to meet the King at 4pm, today.

This followed the Umno supreme working council (MKT) meeting on Friday that reached a decision that Parliament needed to be dissolved soon to allow the 15th General Election (GE15) to be held, this year.

Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said based on the agreement, it was reported that Ismail Sabri will be presenting the date of dissolution to His Majesty in accordance with Article 40(1) of the Federal Constitution.

Maslan said all party machineries in all stages have been instructed to finalise the preparations in entering the phase of dissolution until the date of GE15.

However, it was reported that Ismail Sabri had informed that the meeting on Thursday was a normal routine to present the decision made in the cabinet meeting.

There were multiple parties applying pressure, but the Bera MP had been tight-lipped on the date.

Previously, blogger and activist Datuk Zaharin Mohd Yasin claimed that Ismail Sabri was reported to be present at Istana Negara to meet the King for the dissolution of Parliament.

However, Istana Negara denied such claims.

Instead, Comptroller of the Royal Household Datuk Seri Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin said His Majesty was still in Singapore.

Hence, the question on whether the meeting between the Prime Minister and the Yang di-Pertuan Agong involved the decision made in the cabinet meeting or the former would also present the date of Parliament dissolution would be answered on Thursday.