KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 — The Court of Appeal in Putrajaya today ruled that emergency proclamations issued by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong cannot be challenged in court, reaffirming that the Federal Constitution bars judicial scrutiny over the monarch’s decision on whether a grave emergency exists.

According to the New Straits Times, Federal Court judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah said Article 150(8) of the Federal Constitution expressly states that the King’s decision is “final and conclusive” and cannot be questioned by the courts.

“It is for the executive to advise the King whether the circumstances exist for such a declaration to be made.

“The court cannot exercise its judicial power on national security,” he said when delivering the Court of Appeal’s unanimous decision today.

The appellate bench, which also comprised Datuk Supang Liang and Datuk Alwi Abdul Wahab, dismissed lawyer Syed Iskandar Syed Jaafar’s attempt to challenge the refusal by the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong to declare a state of emergency in October 2020.

Syed Iskandar had sought leave to initiate a judicial review against the decision by then Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah during the political turmoil that preceded the Covid-19 emergency declaration months later.

In February last year, Chief Justice Tun Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh, who was then a High Court judge, ruled that Syed Iskandar’s application was not justiciable.

Today’s ruling effectively upholds that finding, reinforcing constitutional limits on the judiciary’s role in matters tied to emergency powers and national security.