KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 — The Yang di-Pertuan Agong has granted an audience to the Committee for Ending the Emergency Declaration, its chairman Khalid Samad said today.

The Shah Alam MP, however, said that a date has yet to be set for the meeting, adding that the invitation from the palace, informing the committee of the monarch’s consent, was signed by Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah’s senior private secretary, Colonel (Rtd) Datuk Nazim Mohd Alim.

"I am pleased to inform you that this morning I received a letter from Istana Negara saying that His Majesty, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, has agreed to grant an audience to the Committee for Ending the Emergency Declaration, to submit a petition to appeal for an end to the Emergency.

"Although the date for the audience has yet to be determined, we are confident that it will be set as soon as possible to enable us all to appear before the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to submit the appeal petition.

"The adverse effects of the Emergency are becoming more obvious with each passing day. As the chairman of the Committee for Ending the Emergency Declaration, I would like to thank His Majesty, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, for His Majesty’s concern,” Khalid added.

In January this year, Sultan Abdullah consented to a state of Emergency in the country until August 1, or until the current wave of Covid-19 subsides. There is still no word as to when it will end.

On April 20, Langkawi MP Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad joined members from the committee to seek an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

However, the delegation which included the committee’s chairman Khalid from Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), his party president Mohamad Sabu, Parti Pejuang Tanah Air president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, DAP’s deputy secretary-general Teresa Kok, and PKR’s vice-president Tian Chua were only allowed to meet Nazim.

The former prime minister said the current "dissent” towards members of the royal family on social media is partly caused by the public’s lack of knowledge about the role that Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin played in advising the Agong in the lead-up to the proclamation.