YOURSAY ‘The automatic dissolution provision was meant to be a safety barrier, in case a ‘recalcitrant' executive is unwilling to call for elections.'

Past midnight, NS will have a caretaker gov't

your say Kit P: In the Westminster system, the expectation is always that the dissolution of Parliament or other legislature shall be made by the executive advising the ruler.

The provision for automatic dissolution was meant to be a safety barrier, enforcing a final expiry date of the legislature in case a ‘recalcitrant' executive is unwilling to call for elections.

It says volumes about the leadership, or the lack of, of the ruling party that it has triggered the enforced dissolution of the Negeri Sembilan state assembly.

Anonymous #35411897: The BN government, by allowing the state assemblies' automatic dissolution, shows disrespect to the state rulers.

BN leaders will create havoc at any slight infringement by the opposition against the rulers. I'm just waiting to see what the rulers will say, especially those from Selangor and Perak.

Meanwhile, Pakatan Rakyat states, please seek approval from your respective rulers to dissolve your assemblies before they are automatically dissolved.

Iloveallmalaysians: Tommy Thomas, you are a reputed to be a fantastic lawyer. Maybe the BN did not honour you for your abilities, but Pakatan may.

Let's now talk about what you had said - the states are at liberty to call for their own elections and dissolve their assemblies at any time they want.

If the Parliament does so shortly before (days) or shortly after, the general election will be held together with the state assemblies. Alas, Selangor and Penang, as well as Kedah and Kelantan, have not dissolved their respective assemblies.

As has been customary in the peninsula since Independence, the parliamentary and state elections will be held simultaneously, but the threats from Penang and Selangor meant that they won't let it happen.

The end result? Najib will sit it out till the state assemblies expire and then call for the parliamentary and state elections together as always. It's in the constitution.

Interestingly: Past midnight, they are still the old same stinking garbage, minus the 'power' suits.

Ferdtan: Constitutional lawyer Tommy Thomas likens a caretaker government to a company facing winding-up, as regards the responsibilities of the state government whose assembly has been dissolved.

This means that the caretaker is akin to the liquidators appointed to run the day-to-day operations of the troubled company.

Invariably, most winding-ups of companies are mainly due to their dismal failures (usually financial or unviability of a company to continue). So it is not wrong to say that it is time for the BN state government of Negri Sembilan to close shop.

Hang Babeuf: Yes, I agree with Tommy Thomas in general. And in particular, too ,with the point made that "Our parliamentary democracy is established on the basis that a government elected at the general election is a government responsible to the legislature, and one of the prerogatives of the leader of such a government is to advise his constitutional monarch to dissolve the legislature before the automatic dissolution clause is triggered".

In other words, part of the damage done here by this "pre-empting" of the state executive's right to go to the ruler and ask for timely dissolution is that it is "the other side of the coin" of what happened in Perak in 2009.

There, too, the head of the elected government was denied the right and opportunity of going to the people in a timely election by what many still consider an untoward, excessive and misconceived exercise of royal discretion.

The right of the elected government appropriately to "bring on" an election is dealt another, complementary blow here.

Heavywater: It is very good that PM Najib Razak dare not call for an election now as this will give more time to Pakatan strategise their move into BN's fixed-deposit states.

More people will have time to realise and discover the issue of scandals as well as how tainted the PM and his government are. Also more time for Pakatan to address the weaknesses of BN and bring the bare truths to the people.

Anonymous_40f4: Morally, Menteri Besar Mohamad Hasan has to take down the millions of posters of his face on all the lamp posts and junctions in Negeri Sembilan, which was put up with millions of taxpayers' money. Will he?

Ahmed: Najib is too scared to face the electorate, too scared to face the Suluk invaders, too scared to fight corruption... the list continues.

He is just not fit to be our prime minister.

OMG!!: Historians will record today as the day of shame in the country's political history whereby the ruling party is so chicken that it dares not call an election, but let the election calls itself.

MockingYou: This caretaker business in government is new to me as I'm only familiar with temple caretakers.

They sweep the floor, clean the altars and do whatever caretakers do, minus helping themselves to the tithe box.

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