Sultan has discretion and can pick a non-Malay MB, law expert says

IPOH, April 21 — Contrary to popular opinion, mentris besar do not always have to be Malays, constitutional law expert Abdul Aziz Bari said.

He said state sultans are granted a discretionary power in the constitution and can appoint even a non-Malay to the post if he believes the latter to hold the confidence of the majority.

“In the Malay sultanate states, there is a requirement where the mentri besar must be a Malay and a Muslim but if you look at the provisions, it is not meant to appoint Malay as mentri besar at all cost.

“Even if there are Malays in the House, the Sultan may in his discretion appoint a non-Malay as the mentri besar which nearly happened in 1969 when the then Sultan had wanted to put in a non-Malay,” he told Malay Mail.

However, he added that the sultan does not have absolute discretion to decide on the mentri besar.

“If there is a majority, the Sultan does not have the discretion. The discretion will only arise when there is a problem where the majority cannot agree on the same candidate for mentri besar,” he explained.

Aziz, who is also a Selangor DAP committee member, sought to dispel public misconception amid whispers that his party is fielding Malay candidates in the GE14 so its representative will be mentri besar.

For the past few weeks, the DAP had been rumoured to field the Universiti Selangor lecturer as its candidate for the Tebing Tinggi state seat in Perak, and was its mentri besar choice if he won the elections.

Last night, the state DAP confirmed the rumours when it announced Aziz as its pick for the seat.

Speaking on the matter for the first time, Aziz admitted that issue had ruffled the feathers of DAP’s allies in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) pact.

Despite his explanation on the sultan’s discretionary power to appoint a non-Malay, the Pandan Indah DAP branch chairman asserted just as strongly that any MB candidate will not come from his party, which is mostly Chinese.

“Despite having the majority of 18 seats, the DAP cannot be the mentri besar,” he said, adding that it was because DAP critics were using the old argument that the “Malays are afraid of DAP”.

Aziz said he was sceptical of that hypothesis, but urged DAP allies not to fall for the same argument used by its political foes.

“Do not think like Umno. Why must we listen to Umno? Why must we concede and play the game according their style? It is like football. Why must we play according to their style?” he asked.

He related that he is being viewed by those in his racial community as being less Malay and less Muslim since switching from PKR to DAP in 2015.

Aziz also said continued discussion on which party representative will become MB will not benefit PH, but may instead turn supporters away.

“The people are not stupid. They know the majority decides. The other PH parties, with due respect, are quite unlikely to win more than 18 seats. So why must we jump up and down just because of that? Relax lah, cool lah,” he said.

At the same time, Aziz said the PH component parties — DAP, PKR, Parti Amanah Negara and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia — cannot take the Chinese vote for granted.

“They are watching us. If we are unlucky, the Chinese may also get fed up with us,” he said.