Sultan’s discretion in choice of MB and constitutional practice — Gurdial Singh Nijar

AUGUST 20 — The Sultan has a personal discretion under the Selangor Constitution to select the Mentri Besar.

However, the Constitution prescribes the criteria by which he is to exercise this discretion.

He must appoint a member of the State Legislative Assembly “… who in His judgment is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the Assembly”: Article 53(2)(a).

If the majority intimates to the Sultan its choice, then His Highness obviously must defer to the wishes of the majority. The Federal Court made this clear in the Perak MB crisis case of Nizar v Zambry.

In this case, the Federal Court said:

“But His Royal Highness must appoint someone who has the command and confidence of the majority of the members of the Legislative Assembly.

“In the present case there is no doubt that Zambry (the new proposed MB) has the majority support of the members of the Legislative Assembly.

“He has the support of 31 members from 59 members of the Legislative Assembly”.

In the present case, a far greater majority — 43 out of the 56 members of the Legislative Assembly — has made it clear to the Sultan of Selangor that the proposed nominee has its undoubted support.

Thus the Constitution and established convention as reinforced by the decision of our highest court — seems to leave the Sultan little choice but to appoint the nominee of the majority.

* Professor Gurdial Singh Nijar is with the Law Faculty, University of Malaya.

** This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.