Lawyer Syed Iskandar Syed Jaafar Al Mahdzar filed an application at the Federal Court on May 29, seeking leave to appeal a judicial review challenge regarding the former Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s 2019 refusal to declare a state of emergency [1, 2]. The notice of motion was filed last Friday through Messrs R Kengadharan & Co law firm [1, 2].

Syed Iskandar initiated the legal challenge in 2020 by filing an originating summons seeking a declaration that the Constitution (Amendment) Act 1981, which inserted Clauses 8(a) and (b) to Article 150, was unconstitutional and violated the Federal Constitution’s basic structure [1, 2]. He named the Malaysian government and 10 others as defendants in the suit, totaling 11 defendants [1, 2].

On February 15, 2024, the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed Syed Iskandar’s originating summons. The court ruled that Article 150(8) does not violate the Constitution and is not subject to judicial review under Article 40(1) [1, 2].

Syed Iskandar appealed, but on May 4, 2026, the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal [1, 2]. Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah stated that emergency powers under Article 150 are non-justiciable. He explained, "A court would not be equipped to decide on the legality of the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong’s satisfaction of national threats as it would be impossible to adduce all available facts before the courts, and as such it would be inappropriate for a court exercising powers of judicial review to make value judgments of non-judicial nature" [1].

Justice Sequerah further noted that Clause 8 was necessary to exclude courts from reviewing emergency proclamations and related ordinances because sensitive information is held only by the Executive branch. He said, "It was not wise for such sensitive information to be disclosed to the public and be subjected to judicial review" [2]. He added, "The courts were also ill-equipped to deal with matters involving national security" [2].

Today’s Federal Court filing seeks leave to appeal the Court of Appeal’s ruling, continuing the legal challenge over the former king’s refusal to declare an emergency in 2019.

The Federal Court’s decision on whether to grant leave to appeal is expected in the coming months.