The Monarch Has No Power to Sack Any Member of The Cabinet Exco | LoyarBurok

The Monarch Has No Power to Sack Any Member of The Cabinet Exco

"The King/Sultan, therefore, has the discretionary power to appoint any person to be Prime Minister/Menteri Besar as he pleases subject only to his own perception of the person most likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the House of Representatives/Legislative Assembly.

But, it is necessary to point out that in the Perak case of Nizar v Zambry, the Sultan has no power to appoint Zambry as the Menteri Besar because Nizar was still the holder of the office. It is only when the office is vacant would the Sultan be able to appoint another person to the office of Menteri Besar.

The unconstitutional appointment of Zambry to the post makes him an imposter. This is a blatantly unconstitutional exercise of a non-existent executive power by a pretentious constitutional monarch. Are we back to the days of the pretensions of King Charles I?

A constitutional monarch has no executive power except that which the law allows him. And the Constitution of Perak would only permit the Sultan to act in the performance of a few discretionary functions stated in Article 18(2). In relation to the office of Menteri Besar Clause (2)(a) applies. It says:

(2) His Royal Highness may act in his discretion in the performance of the following function … that is to say:

(a) the appointment of a Mentri Besar,

Clause (2) (a) is clear enough. The Sultan only has the discretionary function to appoint a Menteri Besar. So that as long as Mohammad Nizar Jamaludin is still in office as Menteri Besar, the Sultan has no other discretionary function to appoint another person. Therefore, the Sultan’s appointment of Zambry Abdul Kadir is an unconstitutional exercise of a non-existent discretionary function to appoint a second Menteri Besar.