Thursday February 19, 2009
Expert: Suspension of Perak MB, exco members questionable
KUALA LUMPUR: A constitutional law expert has described the ban on Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry Abd Kadir and his executive council members from the state assembly as a “very sad and shocking development.”
Prof Shad Saleem Faruqi said it showed that “the constitutional powers are being stretched to the utmost limit and quite questionably too.”
He was commenting on the move by State Legislative Assembly Speaker V. Sivakumar, who heads the Committee on Special Privileges, to suspend Zambry from the assembly for 18 months and the six exco members for 12 months.
The Universiti Teknologi Mara professor said he had yet to refer to the Perak state constitution but based on the British constitution, any decision of the committee would only be a recommendation to the House.
The House, he added, would then deliberate on the matter.
“Based on my understanding, the Privileges Committee cannot make a decision on its own.
“This is the privilege of the House and not the Speaker or Privileges Committee,” he said, adding that the Speaker had the power to suspend a member for only a short period for misbehaviour.
He said the move could have been taken to create a constitutional impasse thus providing a conducive environment for a snap election.
“The civil government is collapsing because there is a stalemate in the government between the previous Mentri Besar and the current Mentri Besar, and between the current Mentri Besar and the Speaker.
“The consequence is a snap election or the Yang di-Pertuan Agong declaring a state of emergency,” he said, adding that the term “emergency” not only included war or a riot but the collapse of a civil government.
Constitutional lawyer Tommy Thomas said the decision was an unusual move.
“Even lawyers need a lot of time to study the situation as it is an extraordinary situation,” he said at a public forum on expressways here yesterday.
Related stories:
Perak MB and exco ‘suspended'
Suspension a mockery of the system, say BN reps
Councils set up before exco suspension
Justice Mohamad may opt out of Nizar vs Zambry case
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