Agong,Malay Rulers, And Their Powers To Dismiss A Sitting Prime Minister-More

by Ganesh Sahathevan

The following extracts from a paper by Anne Twomey, Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Sydney:

The rule of law is also an important principle. It potentially supports the dismissal of a Prime Minister who persists in serious breaches of the law or the Constitution. It also would potentially permit a Governor-General to decline to act upon advice to commit a manifest breach of the Constitution or of a law. However, the application of this principle is often tempered by another principle, the separation of powers and the role of the judiciary in determining legality. Where the judiciary may not determine legality, because the matter is not justiciable, or where the breach of the rule of law is both serious and uncontestable or uncontested, then an exercise of a reserve power to reject advice or to seek new advisers, may be warranted.

The above is to be read in conjunction with the  earlier post  below ,and taken together one can see ever more clearly that the Agong and Malay Rulers have a duty born of culture and tradition  to at least consider using their powers to dismiss a sitting prime minister when the situation warrants it.In the current Malaysian context,there is a case where. among other issues of good governance,  the rule of law is being ignored in that a corporation headed by the prime minister is refusing to cooperate with a number of statutory bodies appointed to investigate that corporation:

The Agong can dismiss the Prime Minister , the Malay Rulers have powers they are duty bound to exercise