Revocation of 10 Negeri Sembilan exco appointments gazetted, backdated to September 20

SEREMBAN: The revocation of 10 Negeri Sembilan state executive councillors by the Yang di-Pertuan Besar, Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir, was gazetted on Thursday, with the revocation recorded as taking effect from September 20.

The Negeri Sembilan Government Gazette notice, numbered N.S. P.U. 18 and carried in Volume 79, No. 39, states that all of the councillors breached the oath of allegiance they signed before taking office.

The revocation was made under Article XXXVIII(5) of the Laws of the Constitution of Negeri Sembilan 1959, under which members of the state executive council hold office at the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Besar.

Royal consent to all 10 appointments was withdrawn under that provision.

The gazetting completes the formal process behind the order announced by the Negeri Sembilan palace late on the night of September 20, four days earlier.

The 10 names

Those listed are Datuk Mohd Faizal Ramli, Datuk Mustapha Nagoor, Datuk Zaifulbahri Idris, Siow Kong Choon, Siti Nur Umaira Hasim, Datuk Mohd Asna Amin, Datuk Mohd Razi Mohd Ali, Suhaimizan Bizar, Mohd Fairuz Mohd Isa and Datuk Razali Abu Samah.

All were sworn in and signed the pledge of allegiance before Tuanku Muhriz on August 7, before joining the state administration.

In that pledge they declared loyalty to the Yang di-Pertuan Besar and the royal institution, undertook to preserve the sovereignty of the state constitution, and acknowledged the authority vested in the Dewan Keadilan dan Undang.

The menteri besar is still refusing

Ismail, who is not named in the gazette, holds to his position that the revocation has no force because it was made without his advice.

At a news conference at a hotel in Seremban on Thursday, he repeated that the existing exco line-up remains legally valid.

He also raised the order barring the councillors from their offices at Wisma Negeri, saying it had been issued without any written directive or court order.

Ismail asked the authorities to review that order urgently, including its basis and its scope.

The prime minister's rebuke

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on September 23 described the moves by the menteri besar and the exco over Tuanku Muhriz's position as rude and uncivilised, speaking to reporters while travelling from Shanghai to Hangzhou in China.

Anwar said no authority at state level had a mandate to question or alter the Ruler's position, and that federal involvement in the matter did not amount to interference.

Asked about the rebuke, Ismail said it was possibly based on incomplete information. The exco, he said, had not decided on appointing or removing a Ruler, but had discussed the administration's position on a proclamation.

How the crisis got here

The state executive council decided on September 15 that the instrument of proclamation concerning Tuanku Muhriz's removal was valid and directed that the gazetting proceed. Ismail confirmed the decision had been taken collectively.

The Dewan Keadilan dan Undang declared on September 17 that Tuanku Muhriz remained the lawful Yang di-Pertuan Besar and that the office was not vacant.

The Attorney General's Chambers said the same day that the April 19 proclamation was invalid because it did not meet the mandatory requirements of Article 10 of the state constitution.

Related matters are before the High Court of Malaya in Seremban, where an interlocutory injunction remains in force.