KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 — Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin should not seek to invoke "emergency” powers to prop up his administration unless he has already failed to negotiate a ceasefire with the federal Opposition leader, said Tan Sri Shahrir Samad.

The former Umno minister said this would be the proper sequence of events before Muhyiddin chose to advise Yang di-Pertuan Agong to invoke a state of emergency.

He also said there was nothing wrong with Muhyiddin negotiating with Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for such a truce.

"(If there is a) refusal by the Opposition leader to reach a political compromise for the Budget to be approved in order for the overcome the Covid-19 pandemic, only then would the prime minister and his government be forced to involve the powers of the Yang diPertuan Agong,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Shahrir said Anwar would be obliged to prioritise the truce that would protect Malaysians over his own attempts to take over the government.

Prevailing rumours emerged on Wednesday that Muhyiddin would seek to invoke "emergency powers” to prop up his administration that was under challenge from Anwar.

These rumours accelerated after Muhyddin rushed to meet the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in the Pahang palace on Friday, which led to a meeting of the Conference of Malay Rulers today.

The plan has met with resistance from politicians both past and present, civil society groups, professional associations, and members of the public.