Whose power to decide on Selangor MB?
Kim QuekPublished: Sep 8, 2014 1:00 PM | Updated: Sep 8, 2014 8:39 PM
COMMENT The interesting press conference after yesterday's marathon PAS Central Committee meeting has thrown up a crucial constitutional issue that has dominated the current Selangor menteri besar imbroglio.
PAS deputy president Mat Sabu and secretary general Mustafa Ali gave conflicting answers to the question of what PAS would do if the Sultan of Selangor decides to appoint a PAS assemblyperson (instead of a PKR representative as agreed by Pakatan Rakyat) as the next menteri besar of Selangor.
Mat Sabu said the party would reject the appointment, while Mustafa said it would leave the decision to the sultan, implying that the party would accept the ruler's choice.
This has brought up the key constitutional question of who should decide the next leader of the Selangor state government: the sultan or the ruling coalition Pakatan Rakyat?
COMMENT The interesting press conference after yesterday's marathon PAS Central Committee meeting has thrown up a crucial constitutional issue that has dominated the current Selangor menteri besar imbroglio.
PAS deputy president Mat Sabu and secretary general Mustafa Ali gave conflicting answers to the question of what PAS would do if the Sultan of Selangor decides to appoint a PAS assemblyperson (instead of a PKR representative as agreed by Pakatan Rakyat) as the next menteri besar of Selangor.
Mat Sabu said the party would reject the appointment, while Mustafa said it would leave the decision to the sultan, implying that the party would accept the ruler's choice.
This has brought up the key constitutional question of who should decide the next leader of the Selangor state government: the sultan or the ruling coalition Pakatan Rakyat?
For the sake of clarity of thinking, before we answer the above question, perhaps we should ask ourselves: who should rule the country – the monarch or the people?
I think the answer should be pretty obvious. Ever since independence, we have been running elections one after another, during which we elect a ruling coalition to rule the country.
Since it is the people who have decided who they want to rule the country, so the people are actually the real boss, and the ruling party is only an agent selected by the people to fulfil their aspirations.
And the monarch’s role is largely ceremonial, with certain privileges and discretions as prescribed in the constitution, as peculiar to Malaysia, under the ambit of the Westminister style of constitutional monarchy.
Among such discretions is the monarch’s power to appoint the prime minister. Our Federal Constitution – Article 43(2)(a) read in conjunction with Article 40(2)(a) – and which the state constitutions have mirrored, stipulate that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong has the discretion to appoint the prime minister from “a member of the House of Representatives who in his judgment is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of that House”.
The monarch's discretion: What it means
It is in the interpretation of the word “discretion”, fromm which controversies have arisen.
The Selangor Sultan’s press secretary Muhammad Munir Bani (left), when he said that the sultan had ordered each of the component parties of Pakatan Rakyat to submit more than two nominees for the MB post, claimed that the sultan has “absolute discretion” in appointing as the new menteri besar a person who he feels enjoys majority support in the state assembly.
This implies that the sultan can appoint whom he likes, as long as he feels that the candidate has majority support in the assembly.
However, most constitutional legal minds hold that the sultan’s discretion is limited to its exercise within the context of ascertaining whether the candidate can command majority support in the assembly.
In other words, when the ruling coalition has nominated a candidate clearly supported by the majority, the sultan has no more discretion to appoint someone else.
The latter view must be correct, as we must appreciate that the quality and suitability of the leader to head the government is of utmost importance to, not only the ruling party, but also to the nation, particularly to the electorate who have elected the ruling party.
For that reason, it is always the prerogative of the ruling party to decide who it wants to head the government. In fact, the right of the ruling party to choose its head of government, just as its right to rule, is part and parcel of the democratic system that we have adopted.
This has been the practice in Malaysia since independence, and it is also the practice among parliamentary democracies all over the world, whether they are headed by constitutional monarchs or presidents.
'Discretion' misinterpreted can bring chaos
Imagine the havoc that will ensue if the sultan’s decree is carried out to the letter, resulting in a potential nine or more nominees, and the sultan choses a low quality candidate in preference to Pakatan’s top choice.
In addition to the ill-qualified menteri besar possibly running the government to the ground, such an appointment may create serious intra-party and inter-party frictions in Pakatan, thus ruining the coalition as well bringing disaster to the people of Selangor.
Wouldn’t that be a gross injustice to the ruling coalition, and a betrayal of the electorate of Selangor?
Not by the wildest of imagination, could it have been the intention of the founders of this nation, and the framers of the constitution, to create a constitution with such huge loophole as to plunge the country into chaos?
Above all, the sultan’s decree, as conveyed by his press secretary Munir Bani, could not pass the test of rudimentary logic.
Surely, there must be one candidate that enjoys the highest support in Pakatan, with the others ranking relatively low in its esteem.
So, what is the logic of asking for relatively low-ranking candidates, knowing full well that if any of these are appointed, he or she will likely be rejected by the state assembly, in which event, the menteri besar appointment process will have to be re-run? Wouldn’t it be simple, common sense for the sultan to appoint someone nominated by the ruling coalition?
In other words, is there an ulterior motive to reject Wan Azizah’s nomination, since she has already secured the support of the majority of the assemblypersons?
KIM QUEK is a retired accountant and author of the banned book ‘The March to Putrajaya’.
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PAS deputy president Mat Sabu and secretary general Mustafa Ali gave conflicting answers to the question of what PAS would do if the Sultan of Selangor decides to appoint a PAS assemblyperson (instead of a PKR representative as agreed by Pakatan Rakyat) as the next menteri besar of Selangor.
Mat Sabu said the party would reject the appointment, while Mustafa said it would leave the decision to the sultan, implying that the party would accept the ruler's choice.This has brought up the key constitutional question of who should decide the next leader of the Selangor state government: the sultan or the ruling coalition Pakatan Rakyat?
For the sake of clarity of thinking, before we answer the above question, perhaps we should ask ourselves: who should rule the country – the monarch or the people?
I think the answer should be pretty obvious. Ever since independence, we have been running elections one after another, during which we elect a ruling coalition to rule the country.
Since it is the people who have decided who they want to rule the country, so the people are actually the real boss, and the ruling party is only an agent selected by the people to fulfil their aspirations.
And the monarch’s role is largely ceremonial, with certain privileges and discretions as prescribed in the constitution, as peculiar to Malaysia, under the ambit of the Westminister style of constitutional monarchy.
Among such discretions is the monarch’s power to appoint the prime minister. Our Federal Constitution – Article 43(2)(a) read in conjunction with Article 40(2)(a) – and which the state constitutions have mirrored, stipulate that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong has the discretion to appoint the prime minister from “a member of the House of Representatives who in his judgment is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of that House”.
The monarch's discretion: What it means
It is in the interpretation of the word “discretion”, fromm which controversies have arisen.
The Selangor Sultan’s press secretary Muhammad Munir Bani (left), when he said that the sultan had ordered each of the component parties of Pakatan Rakyat to submit more than two nominees for the MB post, claimed that the sultan has “absolute discretion” in appointing as the new menteri besar a person who he feels enjoys majority support in the state assembly.This implies that the sultan can appoint whom he likes, as long as he feels that the candidate has majority support in the assembly.
However, most constitutional legal minds hold that the sultan’s discretion is limited to its exercise within the context of ascertaining whether the candidate can command majority support in the assembly.
In other words, when the ruling coalition has nominated a candidate clearly supported by the majority, the sultan has no more discretion to appoint someone else.
The latter view must be correct, as we must appreciate that the quality and suitability of the leader to head the government is of utmost importance to, not only the ruling party, but also to the nation, particularly to the electorate who have elected the ruling party.
For that reason, it is always the prerogative of the ruling party to decide who it wants to head the government. In fact, the right of the ruling party to choose its head of government, just as its right to rule, is part and parcel of the democratic system that we have adopted.
This has been the practice in Malaysia since independence, and it is also the practice among parliamentary democracies all over the world, whether they are headed by constitutional monarchs or presidents.
'Discretion' misinterpreted can bring chaos
Imagine the havoc that will ensue if the sultan’s decree is carried out to the letter, resulting in a potential nine or more nominees, and the sultan choses a low quality candidate in preference to Pakatan’s top choice.
In addition to the ill-qualified menteri besar possibly running the government to the ground, such an appointment may create serious intra-party and inter-party frictions in Pakatan, thus ruining the coalition as well bringing disaster to the people of Selangor.
Wouldn’t that be a gross injustice to the ruling coalition, and a betrayal of the electorate of Selangor?Not by the wildest of imagination, could it have been the intention of the founders of this nation, and the framers of the constitution, to create a constitution with such huge loophole as to plunge the country into chaos?
Above all, the sultan’s decree, as conveyed by his press secretary Munir Bani, could not pass the test of rudimentary logic.
Surely, there must be one candidate that enjoys the highest support in Pakatan, with the others ranking relatively low in its esteem.
So, what is the logic of asking for relatively low-ranking candidates, knowing full well that if any of these are appointed, he or she will likely be rejected by the state assembly, in which event, the menteri besar appointment process will have to be re-run? Wouldn’t it be simple, common sense for the sultan to appoint someone nominated by the ruling coalition?
In other words, is there an ulterior motive to reject Wan Azizah’s nomination, since she has already secured the support of the majority of the assemblypersons?
KIM QUEK is a retired accountant and author of the banned book ‘The March to Putrajaya’.
Related stories
Don’t attack Hadi, ‘hurt’ Wan Azizah tells PKR
No one wins fighting sultan, PAS tells allies
PasMa will answer critics at forum tonight
Palace accuses PKR and DAP of 'defiance'
PasMa will rend our social fabric asunder
We'll survive, says Azmin in wake of royal slap
No audience with sultan, says PAS rep
'Azizah wilted under pressure in 2008'
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Nik Aziz backs Hadi, calls PKR spoilt brat
Hell hath no fury like Hadi scorned
Majority aside, ruler may pick name not on lists
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PAS man: Un-Islamic to give Hadi final say
Changing old guard won’t solve Pakatan’s problem
'Democracy is for infidels, so why PAS bothers?'
Khalid Samad: PAS chief need not be an ulama
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