KUALA LUMPUR, June 8 — Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) today confirmed that its pro-tem chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will have an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah at Istana Negara on Thursday.

"The official letter from the palace was received last week. However, the time for the audience has yet to be ascertained,” Pejuang Information chief Ulya Aqamah Husamudin told Bernama when contacted here today.

There have been reports of late that the King will be meeting the leaders of all political parties over what is speculated to be the emergency or the convening of parliament.

Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) Information chief Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan and MCA secretary-general Datuk Chong Sin Woon, when asked the same question, said they had no information on the matter, while Gerakan president Datuk Dr Dominic Lau Hoe Chai and MIC president Tan Sri S. A. Vigneswaran, said they had not received any invitation from Istana Negara regarding an audience with Al-Sultan Abdullah.

Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, on the other hand, said he was not sure whether or not Umno had received such an invitation.

"I heard so. But I have not been to the office...I’m not so sure whether Umno has received such a letter or not,” he said.

On a different note, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail told Bernama to refer the matter to Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan, who is a member of the opposition’s committee lobbying for an end to the state of emergency.

"Refer to Khairuddin...he might have more information than us,” he said referring to the media report yesterday which quoted Khairuddin as saying that the King had agreed to grant an audience to all political party leaders, including from the opposition.

On February 9, the Prime Minister’s Office announced the appointment of 19 members of the Special Independent Emergency Committee 2021 (SIEC), chaired by former Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria.

Other members include former Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Samsudin Osman, former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Norian Mai, former Chief of Defence Force Tan Sri Zulkifli Zainal Abidin, former Health director-general Prof Tan Sri Dr Mohamad Taha Arif, former Sabah state secretary Tan Sri Sukarti Wakiman, and also Saifuddin Nasution.

The committee was set up under Section 2 of the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 2021 and will advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the ongoing Emergency and when it should end.

The National Security Council and the Prime Minister’s Department will be secretariats for this committee. — Bernama