Johor Crown Prince posts excerpts of Federal Constitution after Dr M explains powers of state rulers

KUALA LUMPUR — The Crown Prince of Johor Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim posted on social media excerpts of Malaysia's Federal Constitution on the rights of state rulers on Wednesday (April 24) night after Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad commented about them on his blog.

He posted four screenshots on Twitter and Facebook of Articles 71(1) and 181(1) of the Federal Constitution, both in English and Bahasa Malaysia, on guarantees accorded by the country’s supreme law to the rulers.

Tunku Ismail cited Article 71(1), which among others, guarantees the right of a state ruler to enjoy and exercise his constitutional rights and privileges in accordance with the state’s constitution.

The Johor crown prince also cited Article 181(1) which states that the “sovereignty, prerogatives, powers and jurisdiction” which the rulers enjoyed will remain unaffected, subject to constitutional provisions.

Earlier, in a post on his blog chedet.cc, Dr Mahathir had said the state constitutions of Johor and Terengganu, which came into effect in 1895 and 1911, were nullified once the new Federal Constitution was accepted by all the Malayan states in 1957.

He said the new constitution ensured Malaya would be a democracy where its people would choose the government and the rulers would function as constitutional heads without executive power.

“Their position would be guaranteed by the Constitution which would be the supreme law of the country. The party winning the election would name the prime minister or the chief minister — mentri besar and the constitutional head would endorse.

“Should the constitutional monarch refuse to endorse and proposes his own candidate and endorses him, the winning party can reject him in the assembly — ‘dewan’, through a vote of no-confidence,” Dr Mahathir said. MALAY MAIL