Malaysia will never be a republic, assures Aziz Bari

Constitutional expert and DAP politician Abdul Aziz Bari has assured that Malaysia will remain a constitutional monarchy even if there was public pressure to turn it into a republic.

Not only was the position of Malay rulers guaranteed by the Federal Constitution, but they have also long been a part of society and entrenched systems were hard to change, the Perak executive councillor said.

During a “Federalism” forum at the National History Convention in Bangi today, an audience member had asked the panel if the country would risk losing its Malay rulers if a referendum voted to make Malaysia a republic.

The audience member also wondered if existing laws could protect the rulers against such a move against them.

In response, Abdul Aziz (above) believed that referenda were incapable of triggering drastic system changes as they were a mere barometer of public sentiment.

He gave examples of the UK and Australia where the British monarch had remained the head of state despite proving unpopular with the public for a time in the past.

“A referendum does not determine anything, it only shows what a group of people think or support at a point in time [...]

“I don’t think it is a big deal because it is very hard to change the system especially when the system has historical justifications for it.

“The UK is the best example, they don’t even have a written constitution and yet they have not been able to replace the monarchy with a republic,” he explained.

The Tebing Tinggi assemblyperson, who is a former law lecturer at IIUM, thus believed that Malaysia would remain a constitutional monarchy no matter what.

“I do not worry that Malaysia will turn into a republic [...] as the kings are a part of us.

“[...] I am confident that the system of government will not change,” he said.

DAP has been the target of allegations, often from Umno and PAS politicians, that it wants to abolish the monarchy and make Malaysia a republic with a non-Malay head of state.

The Harapan component party has repeatedly denied such claims, accusing its critics of spreading falsehoods to fearmonger the Malays.

Earlier during his presentation, Aziz had noted that the role of the Malay rulers in government continued to be a negotiated practice despite there being written provisions about it in the constitution.

Friction, like the 1992 constitutional crisis which resulted in the removal of legal immunity fo royalty, was thus inevitable.

“There have been adjustments and reforms over the past 60 years and this has led us to the monarchy we have today.

“I think this (change) is something unavoidable but I don’t think Malaysia will ever become a republic [...],” he said, assuring that Pakatan Harapan will honour the constitutional monarchy system of government. - Mkini