Three options to resolve the Terengganu imbroglio

Following the resignation of former menteri besar Ahmad Said and two other state representatives from Umno, resulting in Terengganu going into political turmoil today, an analyst and constitutional expert has underlined three options available to resolve the crisis.

The present scenario sees BN having 14 seats in the state assembly, PAS 14 and PKR one, with three Independents - Ahmad, Roslee Daud (Bukit Besi) and Ghazali Taib (Ajil). Terengganu has 32 state assembly seats.

This has resulted in BN, with its newly sworn-in Menteri Besar Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman, becoming a minority government. PAS is holding an emergency meeting on this today.

The first option, says Bar Council co-deputy chairperson on constitutional law Syahredzan Johan (right), is for the Terengganu ruler, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, to inquire from the respective political coalitions and state representatives which of them commands the confidence of the House.

“The sultan can inquire whether the current menteri besar, Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman, has the support of the majority of the House. This will be the Perak sultan’s move, where the sultan, through extraneous means, can made inquiries, and not necessarily there be via a vote of no confidence in the legislature,” he said.

This follows the Federal Court ruling in the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis, where the highest court in the land ruled that the Perak sultan can summon and inquire of the various state assemblypersons about which coalition they are supporting.

Why Perak case was criticised

In the 2009 Perak case, two PKR state assemblypersons and one DAP assemblyperson became Independent and BN-friendly representatives, resulting in the collapse of the Pakatan Rakyat government.

It is to be noted that the resolution of the Perak crisis had been criticised by various local and international quarters for not going back to the House to find a resolution.

With this, Syahredzan said, the three newly-Independent assemblypersons need not join Pakatan.

“They have to only say that the present Menteri Besar Ahmad Razif did not get their support. If there is a motion of no confidence made in the legislature, and Ahmad Razif is defeated, then he has two other options,” he said.

The two options, Syahredzan said, are firstly to ask the sultan to dissolve the legislature and have state-wide elections; and secondly, for Ahmad Razif and his exco members to resign.

In the Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin (right) vs Zambry Abdul Kadir case, he said, the Federal Court ruled that support for a menteri besar can be determined through other means outside of the House and that a vote of no-confidence in the House is not needed.

“In that case, if the menteri besar and his exco members do not resign after after losing support, then their posts are considered vacant and they are not deemed to be MB and exco members,” he said.

“If Ahmad Razif did not lose his support, he will have a minority government and will be riddled with problems when they table a Bill that is to be passed by the state legislature. They are also at risk of facing a no confidence vote and losing support in the legislature,” Syahredzan said, adding that the situation would become chaotic.

Will Pakatan form the next government?

Another constitutional expert, Abdul Aziz Bari, views that sultan may appoint PAS and Pakatan as the new government, since the present BN state government now as it stands now has a total of 15 seats.

“However, Pakatan must give the undertaking to advise the sultan to dissolve the House and in the meantime, before the next election, and stay as a caretaker government,” Aziz said.

Syahredzan said PAS and Pakatan can form the government, irrespective of the stand of the three Independent representatives.

“If there is no change, though being Independents and they still support the BN, then the Terengganu government can still stand, albeit as a minority government. This poses its own problems, for a minority government will find it hard to get anything passed in the legislature,” he said.

For the time being, Ahmad Razif can still govern - until and unless it is determined that he has lost the support of the majority of the state representatives.