A rejection by the Selangor palace to the nomination of Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the next Menteri Besar of Selangor would be akin to "setting the present constitution aside”, constitutional expert Abdul Aziz Bari told Malaysiakini today.
He also said that such a move would be tantamount to bringing the state back to pre-independence days, when the MB was a "personal appointee" of the state ruler and was not answerable to the state assembly, which is the system today.
He said that the moment there is a "clear candidate" for the MB post the palace no longer has discretion on the matter.
"Given the developments yesterday, namely the Pakatan council choosing a single name for the MB post, Wan Azizah (right) is now basically the MB designate," he said.
He said that the palace's discretion only exists if there is a hung parliament or state assembly.
"To understand otherwise would be tantamount to throwing the constitution out of the window," he said.
"Giving the palace power to reject Wan Azizah is tantamount to going back to Merdeka days," he added.
He said that the moment the biggest party or parties have decided on the candidate to head the government the palace "must" accept.
"Now if the sultan wanted a say would he be willing to be responsible for the government he appointed?" he asked.
"The sultan can only reject the candidate on these grounds- he or she has no clear majority support or that he or she is not a Malay or a Muslim," he added.
Abdul Aziz said that the sultan cannot reject or ask for an alternative candidate for the sultan's "own personal reasons".
He also said that such a move would be tantamount to bringing the state back to pre-independence days, when the MB was a "personal appointee" of the state ruler and was not answerable to the state assembly, which is the system today.
He said that the moment there is a "clear candidate" for the MB post the palace no longer has discretion on the matter.
"Given the developments yesterday, namely the Pakatan council choosing a single name for the MB post, Wan Azizah (right) is now basically the MB designate," he said.He said that the palace's discretion only exists if there is a hung parliament or state assembly.
"To understand otherwise would be tantamount to throwing the constitution out of the window," he said.
"Giving the palace power to reject Wan Azizah is tantamount to going back to Merdeka days," he added.
He said that the moment the biggest party or parties have decided on the candidate to head the government the palace "must" accept.
"Now if the sultan wanted a say would he be willing to be responsible for the government he appointed?" he asked.
"The sultan can only reject the candidate on these grounds- he or she has no clear majority support or that he or she is not a Malay or a Muslim," he added.
Abdul Aziz said that the sultan cannot reject or ask for an alternative candidate for the sultan's "own personal reasons".
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.