Varying degrees of royal decrees

Last weekend, the sultan of Johor issued a decree that all sales of vaping apparatus must cease from January 1 onwards.

His Royal Highness instructed the state exco to expedite this and then gave his reasons – that vaping was dangerous and a health risk, and would only open up another avenue of addiction for impressionable youngsters.

This of course prompted some legal debate. Can the sultan arbitrarily issue a decree – particularly in issues outside that of Malay rights and customs or the religion of Islam – and how much legal weight does it carry exactly?

Are the exco, who serve at the pleasure of the state ruler, compelled to carry out these instructions?

Those would be questions best left to legal eagles and experts on the constitution, of which this writer is not.

Interesting, however, is the speed at which this decree was followed.

Very quickly after His Highness spoke, ministers who just days before were still undecided on what to do with vapers quickly hailed the decision as wise and correct.

Politicians who were loudly defending the rights of the vape community suddenly had nothing to say.

Most surprising though is the response of the vape enthusiast associations themselves who seem to have "given up" and are mostly asking for time to give up their trade.

This is the second time in recent years that the sultan has successfully done this. Recently His Highness also successfully moved the weekend from Saturday to Friday.

The efficacy of the good sultan’s instructions, however, is hardly surprising. This is, after all, the royal household that commanded even the respect of the British monarchy which views it as an equal.

Even in a democracy, the sultan is very much loved and revered by his subjects and therefore to defy him would spell near certain political suicide.

But other decrees have also been issued, though they do not seem to be taken as seriously.

Less than two months ago, the Council of Rulers, of which the sultan of Johor is also a member, issued a statement touching on various current issues, mainly 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

In that statement, released by the keeper of the royal seal, the rulers urged that an investigation to be carried out, and that the findings be reported "comprehensively" and "transparently".

Yet until today, the only real response to that statement came in the form of a reply by the deputy prime minister.

The same royal statement in October cautioned against the use of race and religion as expedient political tools at the cost of racial harmony. Yet, we still see such statements issued on a near daily basis.

In 2012, the sultan of Kelantan was widely reported to have supported the state government’s claim over petroleum royalties that they were not receiving, though other states controlled by Barisan Nasional were said to have no such problems in their royalty payments.

This culminated in the appointment of representatives, a year later, to a committee overseeing the same. Yet to date, of the claim over RM2 billion owed in back royalties, it is believed only a fraction of it has been paid, that to as "wang ehsan" via the federal government controlled local village committees (JKKPs).

Three years prior to that, as acting sultan, His Highness had stated the same while officiating the 12th Kelantan DUN.

The question that would arise then, is: are all decrees considered law, or just some? And if not all royal decrees are considered law, how does one determine which is and which isn’t? Do they extend only within the boundaries of a ruler’s home state or beyond?

In all examples mentioned above, after those decrees or commands or statements, there were comments, some questioning or critical and others supportive. Some of these were deemed seditious and caused legal repercussions, while others were not.

But perhaps the first step towards having a settled legal norm in handling royal edicts and decrees would be to treat them in a uniformed way – not the way we are doing it at present, where some appear to be given more weight and attention than others. – December 1, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.