What coup, Clare?

Sarawak Report’s suggestion that Prime Minister Najib Razak usurped powers shows ignorance and scandalises the monarchy.

FMT LETTERS

By Rahim Zainuddin

Startled by Sarawak Report’s latest treatise on how Prime Minister Najib Razak apparently “launched his coup against his own country”, I am now inclined to challenge not only the journalistic competence of Clare Rewcastle-Brown but her Britishness itself.

In trying to reach the giddy heights of Jeffrey Archer’s ‘unputdownable’ First Among Equals, she appears unfortunately to have suffered a nosebleed.

Najib “drove a coach and horses through the constitution,” she insists, “in order to put himself above the law”. Citing “legal authorities,” Rewcastle-Brown claims that “only the Agong and not the Prime Minister has authority to dismiss the [Attorney-General].”

And that is where I challenge her Britishness.

Any Commonwealth lawyer will tell you that in the Westminster system of government the monarch serves a purely ceremonial function and acts entirely on the advice of the prime minister. Does Queen Elizabeth II do it any differently, Clare?

Our Federal Constitution actually provides as much: “Article 40 (1): In the exercise of his functions under this Constitution or federal law the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall act in accordance with the advice of the Cabinet or a Minister acting under the general authority of the Cabinet, except as otherwise provided by this Constitution;…..”

As regards appointments, the Federal Constitution provides as follows: “Article 43(2): The Cabinet shall be appointed as follows, that is to say:

(a) The Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall first appoint as Perdana Menteri (Prime Minister) to preside over the Cabinet a member of the House of Representatives who in his judgment is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of that House; and

(b) He shall on the advice of the Prime Minster appoint other Menteri (Ministers) from among the members of either House of Parliament;….”

Likewise, the appointments by the Agong of Deputy Ministers [Article 43A(1)], the Auditor-General [Article 105(1)], the Chief Justice of the Federal Court, the President of the Court of Appeal and the Chief Judges of the two High Courts [Article 122B(1)] as well as the Attorney-General [Article 145(1)] are all done on the advice of the Prime Minister.

Any constitutional lawyer worth his salt will tell you that along with the power to appoint comes the power to dismiss.

Thus, if the Deputy Prime Minister and the Attorney-General are appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the advice of the Prime Minister, then their dismissals must necessarily be carried out on the same basis.

Our Constitution does not grant the Yang di-Pertuan Agong residual executive powers in such matters. So where do these executive functions which Sarawak Report attributes to His Majesty originate from? Their very suggestion alone shows Rewcastle-Brown’s ignorance.

Yet, it may be more than just ignorance. There may be deception involved.

For nestled snugly in the heart of her piece is another more sinister suggestion – that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had actually agreed with the alleged “conspirators” that Najib must be removed!

Are you suggesting that His Majesty was one of the conspirators as well, Clare?

Poor judgement on your part, then – for by scandalising the monarchy, you have shown yourself to be nothing more than a peddler of criminal gossip. No discerning Malaysian will ever believe you again.

The truth of the matter is that the Prime Minister acted within the powers vested in him by the Federal Constitution. The former Deputy Prime Minister had run afoul of the Westminster principle of collective responsibility of Cabinet and the Attorney-General was replaced due to his ill-health.

There was no coup on July 28, 2015, Clare. It is time you come to terms with that.

Rahim Zainuddin is an FMT reader.