Lawyer: Dissolution only upon advice of the executive

The Johor ruler cannot dissolve the Johor legislative assembly without the advice of the state's executive, said Lawyers for Liberty advisor N Surendran (above).

"This is because, by virtue of Article 7(1) of the Laws of the State of Johore, the ruler can only act upon the advice of the state exco or an authorised member of the state exco or the current Johor menteri besar.

"The opposition leader has no role whatsoever to play in this," said Surendran.

He was referring to a statement by Johor opposition leader Hasni Mohammad that he will seek an audience with Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar to request for the dissolution of the Johor assembly and that Muhyiddin Yassin is appointed as the new menteri besar.

Surendran said Hasni was wrong in citing Article 23(2) of the Johor constitution in claiming that the ruler can dissolve the state assembly unilaterally.

He said the state opposition leader had no legal or constitutional role to advise or recommend to the ruler for the state assembly to be dissolved.

He also opined that it was "absurd" for Hasni to recommend a dissolution as the Pakatan Harapan state government continues to enjoy a secure majority in the state assembly.

"It is costly and totally unnecessary from both a legal and practical standpoint to dissolve the assembly now," he said.

Harapan controls 39 seats of the 56-seat assembly. Osman Sapian had stepped down as Johor menteri besar yesterday.

Bersatu, which is the leader of the Harapan coalition in Johor, is expected to nominate a replacement to be presented to Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar when he returns from abroad.

According to Article 4(2)(a) of the Laws of the State of Johore, the ruler will have to choose a menteri besar whom he believes is "likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the assembly".