Will the Yang di Pertuan Agong for the first time in Malaysian history withhold consent to a request for the dissolution of Parliament?

Will the Yang di Pertuan Agong for the first time in Malaysian history withhold consent to a request for the dissolution of Parliament if the Prime Minister,Ismail Sabri, is so irresponsible as to request a dissolution of Parliament regardless of the heavy costs to property and lives in a monsoon and flood season?

This possibility must now be seriously considered as the UMNO President, Zahid Hamidi has stated that UMNO leaders are prepared to wade through flood waters if the 15th General Election is held during monsoon and flood season.

Article 40 (2) (b) of the Constitution confers on the Yang di Pertuan Agong the discretionary power of “withholding of consent to a request for the dissolution of Parliament” and the holding of 15th General Election when there is monsoon and massive flood disasters regardless of the costs to property and human lives will be a valid and proper reason for the Yang di Pertuan Agong to refuse consent for a dissolution of Parliament.

I said yesterday that last year, the country suffered colossal losses of up to RM6.5 billion due to floods in the Klang Valley and multiple states and that the human casualties were 54 lives.

These figures were not made-up figures, but were official figures quoted by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Mustapha Mohamed.

Is the UMNO President insisting that the 15th General Election be held during the monsoon and flood season, regardless of the cost to property and to human lives?