Malaysian Constitution

Constitution of Malaysia
Ratified	27 August 1957
Author(s)	Delegates of the Reid Commission and later of the Cobbold Commission
Purpose	Independence of Malaya in 1957 and formation of Malaysia in 1963

The Federal Constitution of Malaya, which came into force in 1957, is the supreme law of Malaya. The Federation was initially called the Federation of Malaya (in Malay, Persekutuan Tanah Melayu) and it adopted its present name, Malaysia, when the States of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore (now independent) became part of the Federation. The Constitution establishes the Federation as a constitutional monarchy having the Yang di-Pertuan Agong as the Head of State whose roles are largely ceremonial. It provides for the establishment and the organisation of three main branches of the government: the bicameral legislative branch called the Parliament, which consists of the House of Representatives (in Malay, Dewan Rakyat) and the Senate (Dewan Negara); the executive branch led by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet Ministers; and the judicial branch headed by the Federal Court.

Constitutional Conference: A constitutional conference was held in London from 18 January to 6 February 1956 attended by a delegation from the Federation of Malaya, consisting of four representatives of the Rulers, the Chief Minister of the Federation (Tunku Abdul Rahman) and three other ministers, and also by the British High Commissioner in Malaya and his advisers.

Reid Commission: The conference proposed the appointment of a commission to devise a constitution for a fully self-governing and independent Federation of Malaya. This proposal was accepted by Queen Elizabeth II and the Malay Rulers. Accordingly, pursuant to such agreement, the Reid Commission, consisting of constitutional experts from fellow Commonwealth countries and headed by Lord (William) Reid, a distinguished Lord-of-Appeal-in-Ordinary, was appointed to make recommendations for a suitable constitution. The report of the Commission was completed on 11 February 1957. The report was then examined by a working party appointed by the British Government, the Conference of Rulers and the Government of the Federation of Malaya and the Federal Constitution was enacted on the basis of its recommendations.

Constitution: The Constitution came into force on 27 August 1957 but formal independence was only achieved on 31 August. This constitution was amended in 1963 to admit Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore as additional member states of the Federation and to make the agreed changes to the constitution that were set out in the Malaysia Agreement, which included changing the name of the Federation to "Malaysia". Thus, legally speaking, the establishment of Malaysia did not create a new nation as such but was simply the addition of new member states to the Federation created by the 1957 constitution, with a change of name.

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