NOVEMBER 13 ― Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday said his party would not do it ― that is, to instruct two of Bersatu’s assemblymen in Johor to withdraw their support for the state government.
He said for the sake of the people, the party would not want what happened in Melaka to repeat itself in Johor.
But even if Muhyiddin were to resort to the same move as in Melaka, the dissolution of the state legislative assembly (SLA) is the prerogative of the state ruler or governor.
On the Constitutional provisions on dissolution of SLAs, the Court of Appeal in the case of Tan Sri Musa bin Hj Aman & Ors v Tun Datuk Seri Hj Panglima Hj Juhar Hj Mahiruddin & Ors [2021] held that the decision whether or not to dissolve the SLA is in the absolute discretion of the state governor or Yang di-Pertua Negeri (YDPN). The YDPN does not act on advice of the executive council in the matter of dissolution of the SLA.
The dissolution of the SLA is not justiciable and consequently not amenable for judicial review. That is also the decision of High Court Judge Datuk Noorin Badaruddin in dismissing former Melaka Chief Minister Adly Zahari’s bid to obtain leave from the High Court to stop the Melaka state election scheduled for November 20.
The dissolution of the two SLAs of Sabah (July 2020) and Melaka (October 2021) follows a request by the chief minister and the YDPN acceding to that request. The YDPN can refuse the request. He has the discretion to refuse. The exercise of the discretion is non-justiciable.
In short, it takes two to tango.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or organisation and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
