Solving the Selangor State Secretary Fiasco?
If my interpretation is correct, then Raja Petra had every right to be mad at PR for not anticipating this problem beforehand.
By Bluesyworms Jazzyworms
There have been a lot of discussion regarding this issue. Here is my take on it.
The Selangor State Constitution seems to be rather ambiguous on the term ‘service commission’ regarding the appointment of the Selangor State Secretary. Which ‘service commission’ does it refers to; Federal or State? From the arguments I’ve read so far, it seems that prior to 1993, Selangor appointed their own State Secretary via nomination by the Menteri Besar and later approved by the Sultan. This approval by the Sultan however is just ceremonial, seeing that HRH actually ‘approves’ via the advice of the Menteri Besar. Approving a person as State Secretary as I was made to understand it by all the debate that is going on, was and is not part of the discretionary powers of the Sultan. Hence the term ‘Constitutional Monarchy’.
In 1993, following the uprising of UMNO and BN led by then Prime Minister Mahathir against the Sultan’s ‘immunities’ after the case of an assault of a hockey coach by one of the Sultans, several states, including Selangor it seems, have given their right to appoint the State Secretaries to the Federal Government. This is actually allowed under the Federal Constitution [I’m using the 2006 edition] be it as secondment officers as in Article 134 or as the current case involving the State Secretary under Article 139(2).
Article 139(2) states;
(2) The Legislature of any State other than Malacca and Penang may by law extend the jurisdiction of the Public Services Commission to all or any persons in the public service of that State, but no such law shall take effect earlier than twelve months from the date of its passing; and if at any time there is not, in any such State in which no such law is in force, established and exercising its functions a State Public Service Commission, the jurisdiction of the Public Services Commission shall, if federal law so provides, extend to all members of the public service of that State.
Now I do not have a copy of the law that was allegedly passed by the Selangor State Legislature in 1993 that allows an extension of the Federal Public Service Commission jurisdiction to select and nominate the Selangor State Secretary and other high ranking state officers. However reading Article 139(3) of the Federal Constitution, such document may not be necessary after all. Article 139(3) stated;
(3) Any extension of the jurisdiction of the Public Service Commission made by the Legislature of any State pursuant to Clause (2) may be revoked or modified by a law passed by the legislature of such State.
Therefor, Selangor would just have to make a new law revoking or modifying the earlier 1993 law. There is not a need to even amend the Selangor State Constitution which needs 2/3 votes, of which the PR Selangor Government does not have. The new law can then be enforced retrospectively, making the appointment of Mohd Khusrin null and void.
If my interpretation is correct, then Raja Petra had every right to be mad at PR for not anticipating this problem beforehand especially since he had already given ample warning about Selangor after Perak’s PR government downfall. Such law could have been made earlier and the current turmoil could have been avoided.
