Agong's hands will be tied--Keruak' s breach of convention suggests sedition, and in any case , the Agong's hands can never be tied....

by Ganesh Sahthevan 

Regardless of  how one might interpret the Federal Constitution, its underlying basis is that of a monarch  or supreme ruler, the Agong. Consequently the wording of the Constitution is careful to never even imply, let alone express, that the Agong's powers are in any way limited, even if it provides for him to act under the advice of his government. 

Convention provides that the Agong only act as advised, but similarly convention also requires that the powers  of the Agong, be never challenged. There is good reason for this,for the Agong and his fellow rulers have untested reserve powers which again, by convention, are never tested. Put in another way, convention provides that the rulers should not be put to the test. 

Convention is a strange creature and dependent on the norms and practices of  the ruler and his people. Given the context of the Malay-Muslim culture from which the Agong and his brother rulers draw their powers, it would be very unwise for anyone to try and determine the limits of those powers. Consequently, and given Malaysia;s  laws against sedition ,  it is extremely unwise to declare that the  rulers hands are in anyway "tied".

Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak has chosen to do so, and he is probably in breach of the laws against sedition. 

END 

See also










Minister: Agong's hands tied on Citizens' Declaration petition

 29 comments     Published 13 May 2016, 10:59 pm     Updated 13 May 2016, 11:03 pm
  


The Citizens' Declaration, which is to be submitted to the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong, may have gathered a million signatures but there is little that the monarch can do about it, says Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak.

The declaration, initiated by the Save Malaysia movement, calls for the removal of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

However, Salleh said there is no legal provision for the Agong to do this.

"While in a democracy that (petition) is allowed, however, according to the law or the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, there is very little His Majesty can do about this petition.

"There is no provision in the constitution that allows the Agong to sack a prime minister.

"The prime minister’s own party has to do that (like in the case of then Selangor menteri besar Khalid Ibrahim) or MPs from the prime minister’s own party have to cross over to the opposition (like in the case of Perak Menteri Besar Nizar Jamaluddin)," Salleh said in a blog posting today.

'Gov't often told to respect constitution'

He said while the government is often told to respect and observe the constitution, those who oppose the government must also walk the same talk.


"The constitution very specifically says that the member of the House who commands the confidence of the majority of the members of the House gets to become prime minister.



"In that same spirit, if the prime minister loses the confidence of the majority members of the House then he has to step down as prime minister.

"This means not just the prime minister but (if) the party that the prime minister leads is ousted and the party from the other side gets to form the new government," he said.

Among the ways to achieve this is through a vote of no-confidence against the prime minister or for members of the ruling coalition to cross over to the opposition.

"Other than that, His Majesty’s hands will be tied," Salleh added.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

AG NSW Mark Speakman, two Sydney University appointments by former USYD General Counsel Richard Fisher, the NSW LPAB, and Sydney Water- Speakman has even more election funding questions to answer as he defends his NSW seat of Cronulla

Image
by Ganesh Sahathevan        NSW AG Mark Speakman defending his Cronulla seat In 2013 the then NSW Minister for Finance Greg Pearce was sacked by the then  NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell for not disclosing a conflict of interest when he appointed the former  Sydney University General Counsel Richard Fisher to the board of Sydney Water.  Fairfax Media reported the details:  Fairfax Media has been told the lawyer Richard Fisher ''picked up the tab'' for the party to celebrate Mr Pearce's marriage to Shauna Jarrett, which was held a year before the Coalition took power in NSW and Mr Pearce became minister for finance and services. It has emerged that Ms Jarrett reports to Mr Fisher at the University of Sydney, where he is the general counsel. This was not disclosed to cabinet before it endorsed Mr Fisher's appointment in what Mr O'Farrell described as a ''clear breach'' of the ministerial code of conduct. Mr O'Farrell said he dismissed Mr Pe...
Read more

Sydney is not Soweto, its Asian migrants are not coloureds, or persons of colour - South African Australian Judge Angus Morkel Stewart's decision in Faruqi v Hanson an insult to anyone who is not white

Image
 by Ganesh Sahathevan  In the recent Federal Court Australia decision in   Faruqi v Hanson   Mr Justice Angus Morkel Stewart (Stewart J)  found at [242]: I am comfortably satisfied that both groups of people in Australia that I have identified, being persons of colour who are migrants or of relatively recent migrant heritage and persons of colour who are Muslim, are reasonably likely, in all the circumstances, to have been offended (ie profoundly and seriously), insulted, humiliated and intimidated by Senator (Pauline ) Hanson’s tweet. The case concerned   a tweet  that One Nation leader Pauline Hanson directed at  Deputy Greens leader Senator  Mehreen Faruqi. Mehreen is Pakistani Muslim who continues to advocate for Pakistan as a senator of the Senate, Parliament Of Australia.  Senator Hanson wrote in her tweet "piss off back to Pakistan" after Senator Faruqi commented on the death of Queen Elizabeth II. While Stewart J's has hand...
Read more

Government funding for the College Of Law PLT where students are assessed on the quality of their reflection on their work experience , not the quality of their work experience

Image
 by Ganesh Sahathevan  The above has been extracted from the latest College Of Law Ltd's annual report.  The substantial government funding is provided via the Commonwealth's FEE HELP facility.  The Practical Legal Training (PLT)  which the College runs, and which is a prerequisite for admission to practise  in NSW, has the imprimatur  of the Chief Justice NSW, Tom Bathurst, in his capacity as Chairman of the the NSW Legal Profession Admission Board.  College Academic Director Lewis Patrick has said that in assessing the work experience component of the PLT  "  the College is not assessing the quality of (the student's) work experience, but rather the quality of (the student's)  reflections  on that experience . The College's PLT course is now mostly on-line, and there are problems with delivery and infrastructure. Its FEE HELP cashflow is being utilised to finance its expansion overseas. TO BE READ WITH  Fa...
Read more