What DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang said in relation to Article 43 of the Federal Constitution is surprising to me - that it was "clear constitutional position and established Parliament practices and convention" that the cabinet and even menteri besars, chief ministers and all state excos appointed from patronage have to resign en masse when the prime minister resigns - When PM quits, so goes his cabinet, too

At the highest level, most appointments are effected by exercise of the prime minister's patronage and these are not confined to political positions o­nly but also all chief executive positions of major quasi-government conglomerates, utility companies and even banks. Logically do these also have to resign?

There is no "run in period" and no smooth passing of the baton of power and responsibility at all levels. There will be chaos.

Under Article 43(3) of the Federal Constitution, if the prime minister ceases to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the House of Representatives, then, unless at his request the Yang di-Pertuan Agong dissolves Parliament, the prime minister shall tender the resignation of the cabinet.

Now Parliament may not be dissolved nor polls called by the time Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is being sworn in as the fifth prime minister (see The Star today o­n 'No early polls').

Again, Dr Mahathir Mohamad resigns o­n his own volition, probably o­n a high note and not because he "ceases to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the House of Representatives". These are the key operative words as stated in Article 43(3) of the Constitution.

It is not as if it were like the case of Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok and his cabinet quitting in April 2002 less than a week after an official report o­n the Srebrenica massacre, which held the Dutch government partly responsible for failing to protect the victims.

There is therefore no constitutional reason or convention for our prime minister to tender the resignation of his cabinet when the government of the day has not been discredited o­n any major national or public issue - yet.

Constitutionally, if the prime minister and all cabinet ministers are not discredited and still command confidence of both houses of Parliament, there is neither constitutional provision nor convention to say that the voluntary resignation of the prime minister should necessarily entail the resignation of the rest of cabinet ministers.

In fact, I don't recall when our previous prime ministers resigned, their respective cabinets had resigned with any of them. Not even Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra's case after May 13! So even as a matter of unwritten constitutional convention, there has been no precedent.