KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 10 — The Sultan of Selangor has no cause to consider candidates beyond Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) nominees to be mentri besar post as the pact is not legally obliged to offer more than one name for the position, said legal experts.
According to lawyer Syahredzan Johan, picking a candidate from those not nominated by the pact would also result in the added complexity of the individual first needing to demonstrate evidence of majority support in the state legislative assembly.
“So the Sultan, for example, cannot pick a candidate that is not supported by the majority,” Syahredzan told Malay Mail Online on Tuesday.
“Also, there is absolutely no requirement to submit more than one name,” he added.
On Tuesday, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah said he will not limit the search for Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s replacement to those nominated by PKR, DAP and PAS, after expressing displeasure at the first two parties for only naming Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
The ruler said the act was in defiance of his request that each of the three parties present at least three nominees for his consideration.
According to constitutional law professor Dr Abdul Aziz Bari, however, it was unnecessary for the Sultan to seek additional candidates when the PKR president has secured the numbers needed to demonstrate her level of support.
“To me, asking for names after Wan Azizah has 30 majority is wrong,” Abdul Aziz told a forum on Tuesday.
Thirty Selangor assemblymen — all 28 from PKR and the DAP as well as two from PAS — had signed statutory declarations (SDs) in support of Dr Wan Azizah, comprising the majority of the 56-seat legislative assembly.
Abdul Aziz added that the Sultan’s discretion in selecting the MB only arose in cases where it was unclear who commanded majority support, which was not the case in Selangor as Dr Wan Azizah has support from 30 assemblymen through their SDs.
“No such thing as the Palace has absolute power to appoint,” said the law professor
Abdul Aziz stressed that the royalty does not have an active role in modern politics as Malaysia is a parliamentary democracy that practises a constitutional monarchy system.
“Before Merdeka, it is true that the Sultan had absolute discretion to appoint the MB, but after Merdeka, that no longer existed. The MB is no longer appointed by the Sultan and is installed according to the majority and is responsible to the House,” said the law professor.
He pointed out that the Yang diPertuan Agong did not ask for more names when Tun Abdul Razak succeeded Tunku Abdul Rahman as prime minister, or when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad replaced Tun Hussein Onn.
The Sultan last month asked the PR parties to name “more than two” candidates each to resolve the crisis triggered by PKR’s bid to install Dr Wan Azizah in place of Khalid.
Despite this, PKR and DAP both kept to Dr Wan Azizah alone.
PAS had initially submitted two names — Dr Wan Azizah and PKR deputy President Azmin Ali — but this was superseded by a list of three undisclosed names personally submitted by PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang late last week.
