PM’s weekly audience with King closely watched over dissolution of Parliament

PUTRAJAYA: The Prime Minister's weekly audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong will be closely watched as talk is rife that Parliament will be dissolved soon.

A meeting is set to take place on Thursday, a day before the government tables its Budget for 2023.

Budget 2023 will be tabled on Friday (Oct 7).

While the meeting has been scheduled, sources downplayed it, saying this was the Prime Minister's weekly audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Normally, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob will meet the King on Tuesday or Wednesday morning before the weekly Cabinet meeting.

But since Parliament is in session, the Cabinet meets on Friday instead of the usual Wednesday.

"The Prime Minister is expected to inform the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on matters involving the Budget which will be tabled the next day (Friday).

"It is not certain if the Prime Minister will bring up the subject of Parliament dissolution. That will be up to the Prime Minister," said a source.

Another meeting that will be keenly watched is a gathering of Umno leaders.

The special meeting with the Umno president and the Prime Minister will be held at the World Trade Centre on Tuesday (Oct 4) at 2pm.

A letter dated Sept 30 signed by party secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan inviting division heads and leaders of the three wings at division level to the meeting was sighted by The Star.

An Umno leader said while the agenda of the meeting was not spelled out in the letter, he believes it has something to do with the general election.

"It has to be (about the polls) or why else would the party headquarters want to call for a meeting," he said.

Umno has been pushing for the Parliament to be dissolved as soon as possible despite reservations by many parties on whether it is the right time to call for national polls.

The Umno supreme council which met on Sept 30 had reached a consensus on the dissolution of Parliament to pave the way for the 15th General election.

The current parliament term ends in July 2023.