Malaysia is an Asian country that is mainly divided into two islands, Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Malaysia, with the South China Sea in between. Peninsular Malaysia shares a land border with Thailand and maritime borders with Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia. East Malaysia shares land borders with Brunei and Indonesia, and a maritime border with the Philippines and Vietnam. The population of this country is approx 3,32,00,000 with 3,29,847 square kilometers area. The official language is Malay. English is widely used. Ethnically 70% Bumiputera, 23% Chinese. Religiously 63% Sunni Muslim, 18% Buddhist, 9% Christian, 6% Hindu.
No Senator shall hold the office of Senator for more than two terms, whether consecutively or not. A person who resigns from membership of the House of Representatives shall be disqualified from membership of the House of Representatives for a period of five years from the date of resignation. There is a national language declared in Constitution, but it is legally permissible for someone to use, learn or teach any other languages.
These are positive aspects. Now let's discuss the negative aspects.
King is the head of state. But the difference compared to other monarchical states is that the King serves for five years. There are 'hereditary rulers' in 9 provinces of Malaysia. From among them, every 5 years, each ruler becomes the King of Malaysia. That means, it is a cycle of 45 years. Apart from the said 9 provinces, 4 other provinces, which have decorative governors, did not participate in this cycle. King's duties are decorative. Except he is the head of Islam. The state religion of Malaysia is Islam.
More than half of the senators in the Senate are appointed by the king alone. Mentionable that according to Article 40, King shall act in accordance with the advice of the Cabinet
Admirable Articles of Malaysia's Constitution
7. Protection against retrospective criminal laws and repeated trials
● No person shall be punished for an act or omission which was not punishable by law when it was done or made, and no person shall suffer greater punishment for an offence than was prescribed by law at the time it was committed.
● A person who has been acquitted or convicted of an offence shall not be tried again for the same offence except where the conviction or acquittal has been quashed and a retrial ordered by a court superior to that by which he was acquitted or convicted.
8. Equality (Part of it)
● No public authority shall discriminate against any person on the ground that he is resident or carrying on business in any part of the Federation outside the jurisdiction of the authority.
45. Composition of Senate (Part of it)
● A member of the Senate shall not hold office for more than two terms either continuously or otherwise:
48. Disqualification for membership of Parliament (Part of it)
● A person who resigns his membership of the House of Representatives shall, for a period of five years beginning with the date on which his resignation takes effect, be disqualified from being a member of the House of Representatives.
63. Privileges of Parliament
● The validity of any proceedings in either House of Parliament or any committee thereof shall not be questioned in any court.
● No person shall be liable to any proceedings in any court in respect of anything said or any vote given by him when taking part in any proceedings of either House of parliament or any committee thereof.
● No person shall be liable to any proceedings in any court in respect of anything published by or under the authority of either House of Parliament.
103. Contingencies Fund
● Parliament may by law provide for the creation of a Contingencies Fund and for authorising the Minister charged with responsibility for finance, if satisfied that there has arisen an urgent and unforeseen need for expenditure for which no other provision exists, to make advances from the Contingencies Fund to meet that need.
● Where any advance is made in accordance with Clause (1), a supplementary estimate shall be presented and a Supply Bill introduced as soon as possible for the purpose of replacing the amount so advanced.
152. National language
● The national language shall be the Malay language and shall be in such script as Parliament may by law provide:
Provided that-
● no person shall be prohibited or prevented from using (otherwise than for official purposes), or from teaching or learning, any other language; and
● nothing in this Clause shall prejudice the right of the Federal Government or of any State Government to preserve and sustain the use and study of the language of any other community in the Federation.
Facts of Malaysia's Constitution
3. Religion of the Federation
● Islam is the religion of the Federation; but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation.
● In every State other than States not having a Ruler the position of the Ruler as the Head of the religion of Islam in his State in the manner and to the extent acknowledged and declared by the Constitution of that State, and, subject to that Constitution, all rights, privileges, prerogatives and powers enjoyed by him as Head of that religion, are unaffected and unimpaired; but in any acts, observances of ceremonies with respect to which the Conference of Rulers has agreed that they should extend to the Federation as a whole each of the other Rulers shall in his capacity of Head of the religion of Islam authorise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to represent him.
● The Constitution of the States of Malacca, Penang, Sabah and Sarawak shall each make provision for conferring on the Yang di-Pertuan Agong the position of Head of the religion of Islam in that State.
● Nothing in this Article derogates from any other provision of this Constitution.
● Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall be the Head of the religion of Islam in the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya; and for this purpose Parliament may by law make provisions for regulating Islamic religious affairs and for constituting a Council to advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in matters relating to the religion of Islam.
8. Equality (Part of it)
● Except as expressly authorised by this Constitution, there shall be no discrimination against citizens on the ground only of religion, race, descent, place of birth or gender in any law or in the appointment to any office or employment under a public authority or in the administration of any law relating to the acquisition, holding or disposition of property or the establishing or carrying on of any trade, business, profession, vocation or employment.
● There shall be no discrimination in favour of any person on the ground that he is a subject of the Ruler of any State.
● This Article does not invalidate or prohibit-
● any provision regulating personal law;
● any provision or practice restricting office or employment connected with the affairs of any religion, or of an institution managed by a group professing any religion, to persons professing that religion;
● any provision for the protection, well-being or advancement of the aboriginal peoples of the Malay Peninsula (including the reservation of land) or the reservation to aborigines of a reasonable proportion of suitable positions in the public service;
● any provision prescribing residence in a State or part of a State as a qualification for election or appointment to any authority having jurisdiction only in that State or part, or for voting in such an election;
● any provision of a Constitution of a State, being or corresponding to a provision in force immediately before Merdeka Day;
● any provision restricting enlistment in the Malay Regiment to Malays.
32. Supreme Head of the Federation, and his Consort (Part of it)
● There shall be a Supreme Head of the Federation, to be called the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, who shall take precedence over all persons in the Federation and shall not be liable to any proceedings whatsoever in any court except in the Special Court established under Part XV.
● The Consort of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (to be called the Raja Permaisuri Agong) shall take precedence next after the Yang di-Pertuan Agong over all other persons in the Federation.
● The Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall be elected by the Conference of Rulers for a term of five years, but may at any time resign his office by writing under his hand addressed to the Conference of Rulers or be removed from office by the Conference of Rulers, and shall cease to hold office on ceasing to be a Ruler.
34. Disabilities of Yang di-Pertuan Agong, etc (Part of it)
● The Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall not exercise his functions as Ruler of his State except those of Head of the religion of Islam.
38. Conference of Rulers (Part of it)
● There shall be a Majlis Raja-Raja (Conference of Rulers), which shall be constituted in accordance with the Fifth Schedule.
● The Conference of Rulers shall exercise its functions of-
● electing, in accordance with the provisions of the Third Schedule, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Timbalan Yang di-Pertuan Agong;
● agreeing or disagreeing to the extension of any religious acts, observances or ceremonies to the Federation as a whole;
● consenting or withholding consent to any law and making or giving advice on any appointment which under this Constitution requires the consent of the Conference or is to be made by or after consultation with the Conference;
● appointing members of the Special Court under Clause (1) of Article 182;
● granting pardons, reprieves and respites, or of remitting, suspending or commuting sentences, under Clause (12) of Article 42,
● No law directly affecting the privileges, position, honours or dignities of the Rulers shall be passed without the consent of the Conference of Rulers.
45. Composition of Senate (Part of it)
● Subject to Clause (4), the Senate shall consist of elected and appointed members as follows:
● two members for each State shall be elected in accordance with the Seventh Schedule; and
● two members for the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, one member for the Federal Territory of Labuan and one member for the Federal Territory of Putrajaya shall be appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong; and
● forty members shall be appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
● The members to be appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall be persons who in his opinion have rendered distinguished public service or have achieved distinction in the professions, commerce, industry, agriculture, cultural activities or social service or are representative of racial minorities or are capable of representing the interests of aborigines.
112B. Borrowing powers of States of Sabah and Sarawak
Clause (2) of Article 111 shall not restrict the power of the State of Sabah or Sarawak to borrow under the authority of State law within the State, if the borrowing has the approval of the Central Bank for the time being of the Federation.
112C. Special grants and assignments of revenue to States of Sabah and Sarawak
● Subject to the provisions of Article 112D and to any limitation expressed in the relevant section of the Tenth Schedule-
● the Federation shall make to the States of Sabah and Sarawak in respect of each financial year the grants specified in Part IV of that Schedule; and
● each of those States shall receive all proceeds from the taxes, fees and dues specified in Part V of that Schedule, so far as collected, levied or raised within the States, or such part of those proceeds as is so specified.
● The amounts required for making the grants specified in the said Part IV, and the amounts receivable by the State of Sabah or Sarawak under section 3 or 4 of the said Part V, shall be charged on the Consolidated Fund; and the amounts otherwise receivable by the State of Sabah or Sarawak under the said Part V shall not be paid into the Consolidated Fund.
● In Article 110, Clauses (3A) and (4) shall not apply to the State of Sabah or Sarawak.
● Subject to Clause (5) of Article 112D, in relation to the State of Sabah or Sarawak Clause (3B) of Article 110-
● shall apply in relation to all minerals, including mineral oils; but
● shall not authorise Parliament to prohibit the
levying of royalties on any mineral by the State or to restrict the
royalties that may be levied in any case so that the State is not
entitled to receive a royalty amounting to ten per cent ad valorem
(calculated as for export duty).
