9 - Malaysian Constitutional Perspectives on the Admission and Separation of Singapore

Summary

In recent years there have been many occasions involving spats between Malaysia and Singapore ranging from water agreements to territorial disputes. At the moment it is not easy to deal with them, as facts and documents relating to those disputes are not accessible to the public, and thus they are better left for future scholars to deal with. The admission and later the separation of Singapore are useful in this respect as they will shed some insights over the occasional strained relations between the two sovereign nations.

A constitution of a country is the backbone which forms the foundation for her institutions and authority. It goes without saying that the constitution represents the interests, history, and needs of the people. Even in this modern democratic era where democracy stands at the very heart of a constitutional structure, the peculiarities and uniqueness of the society concerned are still playing the key role. Some of these peculiarities may even stand as the exceptions to democratic principles. There are various grounds of legitimacy to sustain these exceptions even though they may appear as anachronisms to outsiders. One of the grounds that is often cited is to rectify past mistakes or accidents of history, something which may be said of affirmative actions. Other examples include certain veto powers and privileges given to some people or institution. Some of the grounds for these are historical while some others may be cultural or even religious.

In Malaysia there are several provisions which may be said to be falling under the above category. These include provisions on the monarchy, the special position of the Malays, Islam, and language. Some have called these elements either indigenous or traditional.

Constitutional perspectives here refer to the idea contained in the provisions of the constitution. As a federation, Malaysia has a Constitution that consists of the Federal Constitution and the thirteen state constitutions.2 However, as the provisions are not always clear-cut on everything, reference has to made to case law; namely the decisions of the courts. In common law countries like Malaysia and Singapore, court decisions form part of the law. Constitutional perspective here also refers to the ideals of the constitution and these include democratic spirit, check and balances, limited government, and the like.