By Hafiz Yatim | The Edge Markets
The High Court here on Wednesday (April 6, 2022) fixed May 18, 2022 to deliver its decision on whether to allow the Bar Council Malaysia (Malaysian Bar) and the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections’ (Bersih) questions of law on the validity of Malaysia’s 2021 COVID-19 pandemic-driven emergency proclamation to be referred to the Federal Court.
High Court Judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid fixed May 18, 2022 to deliver the High Court’s decision following a virtual hearing of submissions from the Malaysian Bar and Bersih on Wednesday.
The Malaysian Bar’s former President Steven Thiru represented the organisation in the case submission at the High Court while lawyer Edmund Bon Tai Soon represented Bersih.
According to Thiru, the Malaysian Bar had posed 27 questions of law on the validity of Malaysia’s pandemic-driven emergency proclamation and the country’s Emergency Ordinance while Bon said Bersih had posed seven questions on the matter.
It was reported the nation’s pandemic-driven emergency proclamation was effective from Jan 12, 2021 until Aug 1, 2021 to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, which began globally in early 2020.
According to news reports, the Malaysian Bar and Bersih’s questions of law on the validity of Malaysia’s pandemic-driven emergency proclamation were related to the Malaysian Bar and Bersih’s legal actions to challenge the validity of the government’s move in proclaiming a state of emergency to curb the spread of the pandemic.
It was reported that the Malaysian Bar and Bersih had in their legal actions named former Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the government as respondents.
