KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11, 2014:
The question whether Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim is now a “valid” Selangor Menteri Besar has become a Catch-22 situation, said legal experts.
Lawyer and constitution expert Syahredzan Johan said any state assemblymen can put in a motion to call for a vote of no confidence over Abdul Khalid’s post. However, the next state assembly seating is only in November.
“The standing order states that in the duration, between August and November, the only person who can call for a vote of no confidence would be Abdul Khalid.
“However, that would not be beneficial to him for obvious reasons,” said Syahredzan.
He said the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, could call for a motion to convene the State Legislative Assembly upon the request of any State Executive Committee (Exco) member, or the Menteri Besar himself.
It would then be up to the assembly to either pass a vote of no confidence or otherwise.
“Khalid has now to establish support from outside means,” said Syahredzan, citing the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis as an example.
The Perak government collapsed after three Pakatan Rakyat state legislators defected to Barisan Nasional, leading Perak’s ruler, the late Sultan Azlan Shah, to deny a call for new elections.
This led to a 2010 Federal Court ruling which legitimised the appointment of Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir as Menteri Besar, in place of former MB Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin of PAS.
When asked if Abdul Khalid could continue ruling the state as an independent candidate until the November state assembly seating, Syahredzan said legally it was possible.
“However, the question is no longer on the legality of the issue. The question is the legitimacy of it.”
Syahredzan was also wary that the management of the state could be in jeopardy as there could be a possibility of state exco members resigning.
This may lead to the state being run without matters pertaining to that Exco member not being immediately sorted out.
“Right now, the status quo remains the same until the parties which wish to oust Abdul Khalid establish the fact that he no longer commands the support of Selangor state assemblymen.
“It is not up to Abdul Khalid. It is now up to the number of people who support him in the assembly. It’s now on whether they want to him to continue as Menteri Besar.”
Earlier, at a press conference, Abdul Khalid said that Selangor ruler Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah was satisfied with his explanation and had permitted him to continue on as the Menteri Besar.
Civil law and syariah law practitioner Nizam Bashir Abdul Kariem Bashir, on the other hand, said legally the question on Abdul Khalid retaining his post remained unresolved.
“The Sultan will have to make a decision on that in due course.
“As I see it, there is still a functioning government as long as the requisite minimum number of Exco members still support Abdul Khalid,” Nizam told The Rakyat Post today via text message.
He said a vote of no confidence could only be resolved at the Selangor state assembly.
University of Malaya’s Law Faculty professor Gurdial Singh Nijar echoed Nizam’s sentiment by saying that the Sultan would have to act in accordance with the advice of the state Exco as well as Abdul Khalid, according to Selangor’s Constitution.
“The power to summon a meeting of the state assembly is vested with the Sultan. He must act on the advice, usually of the MB, as the natural spokesman of the state executive council (exco),” Gurdial was reported as saying in a commentary piece in The Malaysian Insider.
“So it is open to the state exco to meet and arrive at a majority decision to request the Sultan to convene a meeting of the state assembly,” he said, adding that the Sultan was then obliged to act on the advice to summon a state assembly meeting.
Gurdial said that should the state Exco’s request or advice to the Sultan be grounded on the reason that it had become impossible to work with the Menteri Besar, it was constitutionally positioned to reassert these powers.
“The state Exco, like the Cabinet at the federal level, is constitutionally ‘the supreme decision-making body in a government’ and the ‘ultimate arbiter of government policy’.”
He added that the Sultan was obliged to appoint a said person as Menteri Besar as long as the individual had “command of the confidence” from a coalition, in this case, Pakatan Rakyat.
“By the same token, if the MB ceases to command the confidence of his coalition party, then he can no longer continue to remain as MB,”
Gurdial said Abdul Khalid could still face the sack despite the possibility of PAS supporting him as the remaining coalition component parties would still constitute the majority.
In the Selangor State Assembly, Pakatan Rakyat holds 43 seats, made up of DAP’s 15, PKR’s 13 and PAS’ 15, while BN holds 12 seats.
A Menteri Besar must command the majority in the assembly.
