'ILLEGAL' MINISTERS: Mixed reaction over appointment

Law experts today held differing views on the question whether the judicial review filed by Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran challenging the appointment of two ministers and three deputy ministers was constitutionally sound.

Constitutional law expert Prof. Datuk Shad Saleem Faruqi said the question that should be asked was when they were actually appointed and who appointed them.

"In my personal view, once the King issues the letter of appointment, he becomes a senator, but he cannot participate or function as a senator until he is sworn in," he told theSun today.

"I see double standards here. If Kulasegaran wants to base it on that, then what about the MPs who have taken up ministerial posts?

"They haven't been sworn in as MPs yet but they've already taken up ministerial duties … we must apply the same standards," he said.

Malaysian Bar constitutional law committee chairman Syahredzan Johan said that according to the constitution, the five had to be appointed as senators first before they could be appointed as ministers.

"The Federal Constitution clearly says the cabinet ministers appointed by the King on the advice of the prime minister must be members of either House, so they must come from either Dewan Negara or Dewan Rakyat. "It is actually quite clear in the constitution," he said.

On MPs assuming ministerial roles before being sworn in at Parliament on June 24, Syahredzan said it is questionable but not a clear-cut contravention of the constitution.

"MPs are publicly elected representatives and therefore, by default will be in Parliament whereas senators have to be appointed."

Kulasegaran had named ministers in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar and Datuk Paul Low, and deputy ministers P. Waythamoorthy (Prime Minister's office), Datuk Dr Loga Balan Mohan Jaganathan (Federal Territories) and Datuk Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah (Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism) in his judicial review filed on Wednesday.

He claimed all five are not legally entitled to hold their positions and is seeking a court declaration to that effect as well as a declaration to render their appointments void.

- theSun