Who’s ‘qualified’ to be MB?

Adat istiadat will be the guide to what will happen next.

COMMENT

Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim had an audience with the Sultan of Selangor and indicated that in light of the current developments he would like to tender his resignation.

The Sultan took note of Khalid’s request but deferred the acceptance of his resignation (meaning, did not accept the resignation yet) until a new MB has been decided.

According to the Articles of the Selangor State Constitution, the Sultan has the absolute powers to use his discretion in the appointment of an MB who in his opinion may most likely command the confidence or trust of the majority in the state assembly.

Note the part about “discretion”, “opinion” and “may most likely”, words that mean what the Sultan “believes to be” even if it is not so.

The Sultan commands the leaders of PAS, PKR and DAP to propose “more than two” names as candidates for the MB’s office to facilitate his determining a candidate who is qualified for the job.

This is a titah, or royal command, and not open to discussion or debate. And note the word “qualified”. And how do you determine the qualifications?

This qualification and the manner the MB will be appointed will be done in accordance with convention.

And the operative phrase here is “according to convention”.

And convention may be something not stated in the Selangor State Constitution but has been the practice in the past.

Hence, adat istiadat will be the guide to what is going to happen next.

Roslan Bistamam is a FMT columnist