An academician has urged Yang di Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah to monitor the developments surrounding Wall Street Journal 's report on Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Constitutional expert Abdul Aziz Bari said if the Agong seem not firm enough to handle the matter, the Conference of Rulers can step in. 

“As the guardian of the Federal Constitution, they (Agong and the rulers) cannot just rely on what Najib has to say, especially in light of what WSJ has just reported,” he told Malaysiakini .

He noted that calls by certain quarters for Najib to resign has resulted in many questions.

Constitutionally, Aziz ( photo ) said, Najib is the cabinet and thus the government.

“He is the head or pillar upon which all the rest stands. When he falls, the whole thing falls. This is unless the BN coalition can come up with someone else who has the support of the majority of BN MPs in the Dewan Rakyat.

“As of now, the situation is pretty confusing as ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, is said to be not with Najib,” he said.

Table motion of confidence in Parliament

The problem is, Aziz added, Najib has already postponed the Umno election which otherwise would have provided the way out, namely to have a new leader who has the majority support at least within Umno.

He said perhaps it is useful to have a motion of confidence tabled in the Parliament.

“Logic tells that only the opposition MPs will do that but it will force, or give the opportunity for BN MPs to say whether they are with Najib ( photo ) or not,” he said, adding that Agong also has a duty to monitor the situation.

The WSJ report quoting unnamed Malaysian investigators claimed that US$700 million of 1MDB funds were chanelled into bank accounts believed to belong to Najib.

WSJ cited documents from a government probe, which both the international financial newspaper and whistleblower website Sarawak Report have obtained.

Following these revelations, the opposition has been calling on Najib to declare his assets, or to take leave until he is cleared.

PKR president and opposition leader, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, called for an independent inquiry to probe the allegations and said she was prepared to meet Yang di Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim to iron out the details.