Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz is avoiding the issue of disrespect to the Malay ruler with regard to the National Security Council (NSC) Act, said DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang.

“There is no doubt that going ahead to gazette the NSC Act into law without royal assent, without giving due consideration to the proposal by the Conference of Rulers, is not only disrespect but contempt for the rulers,” Lim said in a statement today.

Nazri had said that there was no provision for amendments to be made based solely on recommendations by the Conference of of Rulers.

He had also said that any amendments needed must be tabled as a new bill in the next parliament session.

However, if that was the case, Lim questioned, why were the NSC amendments not tabled during the May parliamentary sitting?

Especially as the Conference of Rulers had returned the NSC bill to the Attorney-General’s Chamber for “refinement” on Feb 17, he added.

“The attorney-general, Apandi Ali, had then said he would review some sections of the bill while the prime minister, Najib Abdul Razak, said he took note of the rulers’ suggestion,” Lim said.

As such, he said, it was their responsibility to convince the people that they had given due consideration to the views of the Conference of Rulers, even if there was no provision in the constitution to empower the rulers to direct the government to “refine” any bill.

“Since both the prime minister and the attorney-general had promised to give the views of the Conference of Ruler due consideration, has this been done and if so, why has any ‘refinement’ not been brought by way of an amendment bill to Parliament in its May meeting?” Lim questioned.

The NSC Act is a serious threat to democracy, he said, and this was why he was asking Najib to promise not to enforce it until the concerns of the rulers had been addressed.

On Feb 17 this year, the Conference of Rulers, after being briefed by attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali, felt that several provisions in the NSC Bill had to be refined.

The NSC Bill, which provides for the declaration of emergency-like conditions by a council headed by the prime minister, was passed by the Dewan Rakyat on Dec 3 last year and by the Dewan Negara on Dec 22.

It was gazetted as law on June 7.

According to the gazette, it was considered to have obtained royal assent on Feb 18 as per Clause 4A of the Federal Constitution.

The clause states a legislation is automatically deemed to receive royal assent 30 days after it is presented to the Conference of Rulers.