Responding to lawyer Haniff Khatri Abdulla’s interpretation of the Federal Constitution, Nazri told FMT that the Agong can only dismiss a prime minister if he has lost the support of the majority of MPs.
“The Constitution says the Agong appoints a prime minister based on the support he receives in Parliament.
“So as long as he has the confidence of the majority of the parliamentarians, he cannot be dismissed.
“The Agong does not have the power to remove a prime minister at will. Again, the process must take place in Parliament first.”
Haniff, who is former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s lawyer, had last night said the Federal Constitution clearly states that the “power to appoint includes power to dismiss”.
To back his claim, Haniff cited Section 29 of the Constitution’s 11th Schedule which said that “where a written law confers upon any person or authority a power to make appointments to any office, the power shall be construed as including a power to dismiss or suspend any person appointed and to appoint another person temporarily in the place of any person so suspended”.
Hence, if the Yang di-Pertuan Agong believed the Opposition’s claim of alleged criminal wrongdoings by Prime Minister Najib Razak, then he can dismiss the prime minister and appoint another individual to take over the latter’s position, explained Haniff.
Nazri corrected this, saying only if the vote of no confidence against Najib in Parliament was successful, then the Agong may suspend or remove him.
“But even then, the MPs have to be the ones to propose a name to the Agong, not the Agong appointing any individual he prefers.
“He (Haniff) must understand that this is parliamentary democracy.
“To dismiss a prime minister, he must be defeated through a vote of no confidence.
“Parliament has to take action against Najib first. Other than that, there is no way for the Agong to remove the prime minister.”
Mahathir had on Sept 15 met the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and reportedly handed a set of Citizens’ Declaration documents, containing an alleged 1.4 million signatures, calling for, among others, the removal of Najib.
The Prime Minister’s Office later issued a statement saying that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had informed Najib of the meeting.
The statement also said that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had told Mahathir that there was nothing to be done as the declaration “was not in accordance with the Constitution”.