Cabinet members may need to re-swear oaths: expert

A person cannot be a minister or deputy minister without first becoming a member of the Dewan Rakyat or the Dewan Negara, according to constitutional expert Professor Emeritus Datuk Shad Saleem Faruqi.

If such a situation occurred, Shad Saleem said, the appointed ‘minister’ would need to repeat the process of taking oath as a minister only after becoming a member of the senate or parliament.

Shad Saleem was commenting on the statement by DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang, who questioned the legality of the five non-elected representatives who have been included into Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's new Cabinet.

Lim, the Gelang Patah MP, had alleged that the appointments of the five was unconstitutional as they should have first been sworn in as Senators before taking on the roles of ministers and deputy ministers.

The five were namely: former Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) chief Datuk Paul Low and former Maybank CEO Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar (both as Ministers in the Prime Ministers Department); Hindraf’s P. Waythamoorthy, Dr J. Loga Bala Mohan and Datuk Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah (deputy ministers).

Lim had alleged that because none of them had been appointed to the Senate before they took their oath of office before the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah on May 16, their oath-taking ceremony “null and void”.

However, Shad Saleem said that he was of the view that the five had “probably received the King’s consent.”

“Perhaps it is now an issue of whether it was an oral consent or whether the letter of appointment was sent,” he said.

He said that Senators had to go through two processes before having the full powers to sit in Dewan Negara: to receive the appointment by the King, and taking an oath before the president of the Senate.

“If they have not been appointed (as senators) then that means they are not yet cabinet ministers. They are like you and me. The process would have to be done all over again. It is in the constitution,” he said.

On the other hand, Shad Saleem also said that there have been “arguments contrary” to this basic constitutional requirement in the past.

“In the 80s or 90s, Tan Sri Abu Hassan Omar was a cabinet minister in the federal level but was brought in by Dr Mahathir Mohamed and was sworn in as the Selangor menteri besar eventhough he was not a member of the state assembly,” he said.

Subsequently, a by-election was held and Abu Hasssan Omar won a state seat, he said.

“In that sense, an extra-constitutional appointment was regularised. But for me, I don’t think that method is appropriate.”