Johor sultan has power to change rest day
(National Express) – As the head of Islam in the state, the Johor sultan has powers to unilaterally revert the rest day from Sunday to Friday, constitutional law expert Abdul Aziz Bari said.
“The sultan, in my view, can do that as Friday is a holy day for Muslims and (he) has some practical reasons; so that Muslims can spend more time in the mosque as in pre-1993 (days),” he said in an email to Malaysiakini.
“The issue here is about whose power and through what procedure. The power is with the state and the sultan appears to have exercised it for religious reasons.”
He said state holidays fall under state jurisdiction, according to Schedule Nine of the federal constitution.
“It is not stated (in the constitution) whether it should go through the Dewan,” he said referring to the state assembly.
The constitutional law professor said the sultan can act unilaterally as long as it is in matters which do not contravene the federal constitution.
Furthermore, he said, Johor Menteri Besar Khaled Nordin has already indicated that the ruling will not be forced upon non-Muslims and the business sector.
Abdul Aziz (left), who returned to academia last month, two years after being sacked from by Universiti Islam Antarabangsa for critical remarkes against the Selangor sultan, said that changing the rest day from Friday to Sunday in 1993 had been more problematic.
“The (state) government may declare a holiday for a day or two but when it comes to changing something that has been going on for centuries, it is something else; it should have been more careful and elaborate.
“Now it has caused difficulty as the society has been so used to it, hence the uneasiness over the sultan’s announcement.”
‘Disrupting centuries-old practice’
Johor, then led by Muhyiddin Yassin, and Perlis, then headed by Shahidan Kassim, had changed their rest days from Friday to Sunday, disrupting a centuries-old practice in the two states.
Friday was the rest day for the unfederated Malay states – Johor, Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis – where British colonial influence had been relatively weaker.
Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu still maintain this practice.
In modern history, Abdul Aziz said, Johor’s rest-day change is likely linked to former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s campaign to “clip the rulers’ wings”.
“Some of the rulers have forgotten what the former PM did to them in 1983 and 1993.
“Note that Umno Baru was launched in Istana Besar Johor Bahru in 1988, four years after Mahathir amended the constitution which took away the power to assent to bills and also power to declare emergency.”
Johor’s Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar in his birthday speech decreed that the rest day will revert to Friday with effect from next year.
The private sector will mostly maintain the Monday to Friday work week to facilitate external trade, as long as banks do the same.
Banks, however, are undecided as to whether they will maintain Monday to Friday operating hours, pending official confirmation from the state government that the Friday rest day is optional.
