Post of PM deemed vacant once majority is lost, says lawyer

 

The Federal Court had ruled in Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin’s case that he ceased to hold office once he had lost his majority in the state assembly, even without a floor vote.

PETALING JAYA: A prime minister is deemed to have vacated his public office when he loses the support of the majority of Dewan Rakyat members, a lawyer said, citing the legal principle established by a Federal Court about a decade ago.

Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin said the Yang di-Pertuan Agong was then under a duty to either dissolve the legislature or find an alternative candidate who commanded the support of the majority of MPs.

“Once the prime minister has lost his majority, he is obliged to resign. If he doesn’t, then his position is automatically vacated. This was held by the Federal Court in the Nizar v Zambry case,” he told FMT.

The lawyer was referring to the dismissal of Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin as menteri besar of Perak in February 2009 after the sultan came to the conclusion that he had lost majority support, based on extraneous factors.

The Ruler had interviewed all 59 assemblymen and received letters and statutory declarations (SDs) to conclude that Nizar no longer enjoyed the support of the majority to remain in his position.

The High Court had initially ruled that Nizar could only be removed by a motion of no confidence on the floor of the state assembly and he was reinstated as menteri besar.

However, a five-member apex court bench in 2010 ruled that the sultan was right to sack Nizar and appoint Barisan Nasional’s Zambry Abdul Kadir as the new menteri besar.

Judge Arifin Zakaria, who delivered the judgment, had said that if the menteri besar refused to tender the resignation of the executive council, they would be deemed to have vacated their respective offices.

According to reports, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is said to have lost the legitimacy to remain in office after 15 Umno MPs withdrew support for him and his administration.

The MPs had made known their stand either through public statements or SDs, leaving the ruling coalition with only about 100 MPs in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat.

Firoz went on to say that the King was also not obliged to accept the advice of a prime minister who no longer enjoyed the support of the majority of MPs.

“In the Perak case, it was held that the menteri besar who had lost the majority was no longer in a position to advise the Ruler nor seek a dissolution of the legislature,” he said.

The court also held that Nizar could not continue to govern after having lost the support of the majority.

“To allow him to do so would be going against the basic principle of democracy,” Arifin said.

Meanwhile, lawyer Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali said that once the head of government (prime minister, menteri besar or chief minister) lost majority support, his Cabinet members ceased to function.

“Once the locomotive of a train is dislodged, the wagons cannot function,” he said, adding the principle that the entire government falls when the head of the executive resigns from office was first decided by a High Court in the case of Amir Kahar Tun Datu Mustapha v Mohd Said Keruak in 1995. - FMT