Selangor MB appointment at odds with constitution, convention, says law don
(Malay Mail Online) – The recent appointment of PKR deputy president Azmin Ali as Selangor Mentri Besar is not in line with convention and the Federal Constitution, Universiti of Malaya Prof Gurdial Singh Nijar has suggested.
Gurdial cited the Selangor Mentri Besar crisis as an example of events which Malaysians may want to examine and discuss, but may be hampered by the threat of being charged under the Sedition Act 1948.
“Now the Palace has come up with a view, they have made a position which is antithetical to the constitution and to conventional practice. They have chosen someone who is not even nominated,” the legal expert told a 70-strong crowd at a forum titled “Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression” last night.
Typically, the ruling party or its main component party would submit a candidate for a top position, which would then get selected, he said.
“Can you imagine a situation where names are suggested by Umno for selection as prime minister, but the Yang di-Pertuan Agong then chooses somebody completely out of the box, who is not nominated by any of the component parties in accordance with what he says is his absolute discretion,” the law professor said.
Such a move would not “make sense in a Westminster model of parliamentary democracy”, he said.
He then went on to list questions that could arise from the decision to pick Azmin for the post, after all 30 out of 56 Selangor lawmakers had backed PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah for the job.
Gurdial also pointed out the similarities between the Selangor Mentri Besar crisis and the 2009 Perak experience during the late Sultan Azlan Shah’s reign, asking why the practice in the latter state had not been adopted.
“All these are the kinds of questions that constitutional lawyers, constitutional law students and indeed anyone who has any interest in the affairs of the nation are entitled to raise,” he said.
Gurdial did not explicitly name Azmin or Dr Wan Azizah when speaking at the forum.
Earlier, Gurdial pointed out the Sedition Act 1948’s colonial origins and its broadly-worded clauses to allow the British to take action on its subjects, also saying that the law has been largely retained in its original form.
The “problem” with the Sedition Act is that it is meant to “wipe out” opposition and opposing views that question and challenge – the very things that academics must do to push things forward, Gurdial said.
“In academia, we have to innovate, we have to research, that is what we have to do, we have to challenge existing ideas, we have to challenge existing institutions,” he explained.
In a separate event yesterday, constitutional law expert Tommy Thomas said the disregard of the ruling political faction’s choice in the selection of the Selangor mentri besar was “absolutely wrong” as it it was inconsistent with the Westminster parliamentary system of democracy.
Despite PKR and the DAP’s nomination of Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the sole candidate for the job, Azmin was appointed as Selangor Mentri Besar on Tuesday.
Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah’s private secretary Datuk Mohamad Munir Bani said on Tuesday that the ruler had no choice but to delay naming a new mentri besar to take over from Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim because PKR and DAP refused to obey the sultan’s decree to nominate more candidates.
