For a government takeover to be viable I would have thought a simple vote of no-confidence against the prime minister would suffice but this article shed some more info that there’s other alternatives
Article 43(4) of the Constitution reads: If the PM ceases to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the House of Representatives, then, unless at his request the Yang di-Pertuan Agong dissolves Parliament, the prime minister shall tender the resignation of the cabinet
Advocate and solicitor Tommy Thomas in response to constitutional law expert Prof Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi views on the Constitution Article 43(4), said there’s other alternatives
Thomas: To answer this we have to first look at the fact that in almost every Commonwealth nation, there is a supreme head, a constitutional monarch. In Malaysia, it is the Agong as stipulated in Article 32(1) of the Federal Constitution. This supreme head has to be above politics and serve the role of stabilising the nation, especially in a time of crisis like this.
Article 43(2)(a), which states that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall first appoint PM to preside over the cabinet a member of the House of Representative who in his judgment is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of that House, leaves the discretion of appointing the PM to the Agong.
The King has to take the advice of the PM 99.999% of the time according to Article 40(1); however the Agong may act in his discretion to appoint the PM and to withhold the consent to a request for the dissolution of Parliament according to Article 40(2).
In some situations he doesn’t take the PM’s advice because the advice may be self-serving. In the case where a PM does not enjoy the support of the majority, his self-serving advice may be to “keep me, don’t sack me”.
So in these situations and in times of trouble, the King should look above the advice and speak up in the interest of the nation.
As a constitutional monarch, the Agong cannot remove the PM unless he is convinced that the PM has lost the confidence of the majority of Dewan Rakyat members as stipulated in Article 43(4) and 40(3).
If the events in 43(4) occur, then the PM can be dismissed if he doesn’t resign.
The provisions in the Constitution give the King a very broad discretion, but he cannot act as a dictator as there are restraints to his absolute discretion. For example, he cannot appoint you or me to be PM because of the simple reason that we are not members of the lower house. That tells you straight away that the choice is limited to 222 people.
So I reckon Yang di-Pertuan Agong or King does have a say in all of this, but at the position when there’s an absolute crisis at hand. Well only time will tell
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