Principles of cabinet

The cabinet is a council of ministers appointed by the Supreme Head to advise him in the
exercise of his functions. It consists of a prime minister (perdana mentri) as chairman and an
unspecified number of other ministers whom he selects from members of either House of
Parliament . The cabinet is collectively responsible to Parliament. The prime minister must
be a federal citizen by birth, not by registration or naturalization. At the time of his selection
he must be a member of the House of Representatives and in the opinion of the Supreme
Head, must command the confidence of the majority party in that House. If he ceases to
command that confidence, he must either resign with this cabinet or request the Supreme
Head to dissolve Parliament. Each cabinet member must support, and must be supported
by, the expressed views of his colleagues. If any member is “out of step" with his colleagues,
he is expected to resign. Besides the cabinet minister's option to resign at any time, his
appointment may also be revoked by the Supreme Head on the advice of the prime minister.
A minister who is at the time of his appointment a member of a state legislative assembly
must resign from the assembly before exercising the functions of his office. The cabinet
usually meets once a week. The prime minister or, in his absence, the deputy prime minister
presides. The permanent secretary to the prime minister’s department as head of the cabinet
secretariat is responsible for summoning meetings of the cabinet, arranging the agenda,
keeping minutes and passing on the decisions. The prime minister holds a dominating
position in the cabinet, where he is first among equals. He has power to appoint and dismiss
cabinet members. He advises the Supreme Head on the appointment of judges, the Public
Service Commission, and the Election Commission, the filling of certain senior posts in the
civil service and the chief negotiator with representatives of foreign powers.
For an example, during Tunku Abdul Rahman's premiership, any program or project that
needed to be emphasized or conducted with special drive was usually brought under his
department, through which his position as party leader, his personality, and the part he
played in obtaining independence for his country could be used most effectively. The office
of the deputy prime minister that Tun Abdul Razak has held in 1969 is not established under
the Constitution or any written law. It exists by virtue of Tun Abdul Razak' s unique
relationship with Prime Minister Rahman and the high measure of confidence that he enjoys
within the cabinet and the party. He is available to take over the administration in the event
of the absence or disability of the prime minister, as well as to assist the latter in discharging
his numerous duties. Assistant ministers also are appointed from Parliament. They are not
members of the cabinet but are subordinate to particular ministers. They assist in the
running of the ministries, speak on subjects within the scope of the ministries in Parliament,
and sometimes act on behalf of ministers who are out of the country. With the formation of
Malaysia, the duties of ministers and assistant ministers have multiplied. Under a
constitutional amendment in 1964, parliamentary secretaries and political secretaries were
appointed to assist them in the discharge of their duties and functions. Parliamentary
secretaries must be drawn from members of either House of Parliament, but political
secretaries need not be. Parliamentary secretaries differ from assistant ministers in being
lower in rank and in having only parliamentary, and no administrative duties. In practice, the
political secretaries seem to have been given mainly public relations duties. The political
secretary as an institution was in the pattern first introduced in Singapore in 1959. Like
parliamentary secretaries, political secretaries are appointed and dismissed by the prime
minister without the intervention of the Supreme Head. Political secretaries differ, however,
from cabinet ministers, assistant ministers, and parliamentary secretaries in having their
functions and remuneration determined by the cabinet instead of by the Constitution or act of
parliament.