Pakatan gambles on unsupportive Sultan

Khalid has called for an emergency assembly sitting to amend the state’s constitution. — Picture by Jack Ooi

ANALYSIS, Jan 5 — The Selangor Sultan’s open repudiation of Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s version of their meeting has now made the latter’s plan to restore powers of appointment to the monarch an uncertain option.

On Monday, Khalid said the Sultan had stated he had no power to consent to or reject the federal government’s choice of Datuk Mohd Khusrin Munawi as state secretary.

Yesterday, however, the Sultan said he had endorsed Khusrin from a list submitted to him by the Public Service Commission and everything had been done legally and in accordance with the state constitution.

More importantly he wants Khalid to obtain his consent before amending the state constitution, a request that is likely to hobble the mentri besar who has announced plans to convene an emergency sitting of the state legislative assembly before month’s end to seek the amendment.

The Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state government that he leads wants to amend the constitution to restore pre-1993 powers for the mentri besar and Sultan to select not just the state secretary but also the legal advisor and the chief financial officer, thereby bypassing federal authorities.

The state constitution and, subsequently, the federal constitution were amended in that year to curtail royal powers to delay legislation, to remove their immunity from prosecution and subject their actions to the rule of law.

The moves had been initiated by then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Khalid’s intention is to use the emergency session to restore the power to appoint the state’s top three officers to the Sultan and mentri besar with retrospective effect.

By making the changes retrospective, PR hopes to nullify Khusrin’s appointment and allow them to propose a new candidate — in the hopes the Sultan will then give consent using his newly-restored powers.

But following the palace’s claim that it has already endorsed Khusrin, this course of action may not succeed even if PR manages to obtain the two-thirds majority necessary for the amendment to be made. It currently has 35 members, three short of the number required.

Some state assemblymen, loyal to the palace, want the restoration of the monarch’s powers to go beyond the current issue — the appointment of the state’s top civil servants — and extended to also return their legal immunity and past ability to reject proposed legislation.

Currently the royalty can object to a bill for 30 days, after which it becomes law provided the House passes the bill.

Legislation with retrospective effect is considered inherently unjust as it allows persons to suffer in law (criminal or civil) for an act deemed legal when it was committed.

Retrospective effects injure the certainty of law and are arbitrary and vindictive.

Such laws used by one side against the other invariably not only undermine the rule of law but also invites retaliation by political opponents.

DAP leaders are understandably unsettled because of the wider implications of the proposed amendment to the Selangor constitution.

For one, they have a long history of promoting democracy, defending the will of the people and had supported the constitutional amendments that had stripped away royal powers and made the royalty accountable to the rule of law.

Led by party advisor Lim Kit Siang, the party has also fought to make executive powers accountable to the people.

With 13 assemblymen and one of them, Datuk Teng Chang Khim, holding the crucial Speaker’s chair, DAP will have a big say in how this battle pans out. - Malaysian Insider