KUALA LUMPUR: The Bar Council has questioned on what basis the Negeri Sembilan state government continues to operate after the appointments of all state executive council members was revoked by the state ruler.
Bar Council president Anand Raj said the matter required clarification, given the revocation of the executive councillors' appointments by the Yang Dipertuan Besar, Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir, amid a dispute over a purported proclamation to remove him.
Anand said the proclamation on April 9, which the Attorney-General's Chambers had rejected as invalid, failed to meet a requirement under the state constitution for a full enquiry by the undangs (traditional territorial chiefs) before they can call upon the ruler to withdraw from his functions or abdicate.
"No contemporaneous record has been published to show that any such enquiry was ever held, nor that His Royal Highness was ever given an opportunity to rebut the allegations made against him,” Anand said in a statement today.
He said the right to be heard was a fundamental principle of natural justice which applied to everyone, including the head of state. Citing a Privy Council decision in a 1962 suit against the Federation of Malaya, he said: “If ordinary citizens are constitutionally protected from unlawful removal from office without a fair hearing, His Royal Highness is entitled to no less protection.”
Anand also said several unanswered questions remained over the handling of the crisis, including the claim by menteri besar Ismail Lazim that he had signed under duress a proclamation to remove Tuanku Muhriz.
“The public is entitled to know by whom, how and why, and why he lodged the police report only on Sept 8, some five weeks after the purported proclamation” and also why the menteri besar subsequently endorsed the proclamation, Anand said.