Lawyer Zainur Zakaria said Article 40 now stipulates that the head of the federation shall accept and act on advice in the exercise of his functions under the constitution.“Before the amendment, the king had absolute discretion to accept or reject a pardon,” said Zainur, who is appearing for the Malaysian Bar in its application for leave to commence judicial review to challenge the decision of the Federal Territories Pardons Board in Najib Razak’s case.
In his submissions before Justice Ahmad Kamal Shahid, Zainur also made it clear that the Bar was not challenging the king’s power to grant a pardon but merely the FTPB’s decision-making process.
He said the king’s role in the pardon process was akin to appointing Cabinet members on the advice of the prime minister. Shafee, who entered court in the middle of the proceedings, said his client had not been served with any legal papers to be able to participate in the leave hearing. The hearing has been adjourned to Sept 18 for Shafee to file written submissions and for the Bar and AG to respond.In its application, the Bar, which represents more than 22,000 lawyers practising in Peninsular Malaysia, is seeking a declaration that the FTPB’s collective decision was unlawful, unconstitutional and void.
Najib, who has three other ongoing criminal cases, began his initial 12-year prison term on Aug 23, 2022 following the Federal Court’s dismissal of his final appeal.