After a 24-hour delay, an online petition with 5,036 signatures has been handed over at Istana Negara, seeking the King's intervention in establishing a royal commission of inquiry into scandalous allegations about judicial promotions.

The petition, initiated by a prominent human rights lawyer Haris Ibrahim was submitted at 10.35am to officials representing the King, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin.

The petition was started on Sept 25 and was initially slated to be delivered yesterday but last-minute kinks had to be ironed out.

He wrote in his blog , The People's Parliament, that he had received word from a friend who helped him with the language of protocol, that a couple of phrases had to be double-checked.

"I thought it best to defer the submission until this was sorted out," he said.

Although the deadline for accepting signatures at noon two days ago, signatures continued to trickle into his office and via email until last night.

On what is to come after this, Haris said would continue receiving and collating signatures although the just-completed drive had exceeded its target of 5,000 names.

"If there are sufficient signatures, we'll deliver them to His Majesty's office so that more Malaysians can express their concerns to the monarch," he said, when contacted.

He, however, refused to disclose details of those had submitted the petition and the officials who accepted it in "order to protect them".

The Malaysian Bar and civil society have also called for a royal commission ever since the controversial eight-minute video was revealed by PKR on Sept 19.

The clip shows senior lawyer VK Lingam purportedly fixing judicial appointments and judgments in 2002 with then Chief Judge of Malaya (now Chief Justice) Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim.

The petition also urges the King to direct the prime minister to appoint a tribunal under Article 125 of the Federal Constitution to remove or suspend Ahmad Fairuz and other judges implicated by misconduct.

It also requests the immediate establishment of an independent judicial commission for the appointment and promotion of judges.