The Sultan of Kelantan should not create a constitutional crisis in the state by refusing to assent to the amendment of the state constitution which aims to limit his powers, DAP deputy chairperson Karpal Singh said today.

Karpal said the Sultan was required by the state constitution to assent to the amendment which had already been tabled and approved by the PAS-led state government in the state assembly.

"He must act on the advice of the Mentri Besar. He has no option but to assent to the amendment within 30 days upon presentation to him, failing which the amendment will automatically become law even without his assent," said Karpal in a statement.

He said that the Sultan was required to act on the advice of the government of the day and had no discretionary powers over this matter.

He added that even at Federal level, the Constitution was amended in 1994 to provide for the 30- day time limit after which a Bill would become a law even without the royal assent.

"If the Yang di-Pertuan Agong could assent to the amendments to the Federal Constitution to limit his powers, I cannot see why the Sultan of Kelantan should not do likewise."

"The amendment to the state constitution has the support of all but two of the 42 members in the Kelantan state assembly ... the Sultan should not create a constitutional crisis in his state," said Karpal.

Uncle told

On June 27, the state assembly passed a Bill to amend the state constitution to limit the Sultan's powers. Mentri Besar Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, when tabling the bill, had said that the amendments were aimed at streamlining provisions in the state constitution with those in the Federal Constitution.

The Bill was passed without any debate. All 40 PAS state assembly representatives voted in favour of it while the two Barisan Nasional representatives did not attend the sitting, claiming that it (the sitting) was illegal since it did not get the consent of the Sultan.

Karpal commended the PAS-led state government for bringing the state constitution in line with the Federal Constitution.

He also expressed his surprise that the Sultan had on Monday given an audience to Gua Musang Member of Parliament Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, his uncle, to express his opposition to the amendment.

"The Sultan should not be apolitical and should not have indicated his unwillingness to assent to the amendment to Tengku Razaleigh," said Karpal.

He was commenting to a report in New Straits Times today which quoted Tengku Razaleigh as saying that the Sultan had told him that he would not give his assent to the amendment.