Prime Ministers and Political Parties: Is there a Prime Minister in the House?

Abstract Article 43(2)(a) of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia states that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall appoint as Prime Minister ‘a member of the House of Representatives who in his judgment is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of that House’. Within a span of five years (2018-2022), this power was exercised four times to appoint four different Prime Ministers. This article looks retrospectively at those unprecedented events, and prospectively at how we should navigate future instances of constitutional uncertainty. This article argues that article 49A of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, which was specifically introduced in 2022 to curb the problem of party-hopping, may turn out to have the exaptational function of providing an unexpected, win-win solution to the matter of discretionary uncertainty. This exaptational lesson signals the potential for a novel use of constitutional tools to effect incremental change in measured doses, as Malaysia transitions from a dominant-party state to a vibrant multi-party democracy.