Briefly Explain the Historical Factors That Have Influenced the Malaysian Constitution
The Federal Constitution of Malaysia, which came into force in 1957, is the supreme law of Malaysia. The Federation was initially called the Federation of Malaya and it adopted its present name, Malaysia, when the States of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore joined 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 organization of three main branches of the government which are the Parliament, which consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate; the executive branch led by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet Ministers; and the judicial branch headed by the Federal Court. Just like any other constitution, the Malaysian Constitution cannot be accurately described or understood without making reference to its history. Malaysian constitutional development has been influenced inter alia, by several factors which are pre-colonial indigenous traditions of sovereignty; colonial conceptions of executive authority; indirect rule; federalism; and political and social concerns during the immediate pre- and post-independence period. One of the factors is pre-colonial indigenous traditions of sovereignty. Until the 1940s modern democratic and representative forms of government were more or less unknown in Malaysia. However, this does not mean that before the colonial period there was no constitutional law. The Malacca Sultanate is considered an example of a typical indigenous system in the form of Kanun Undang-Undang Melaka or the Malacca Digest. Although it was not the first sultanate (the Malacca Sultanate) the impact on the constitutional set-up of other sultanates which emerged later, was quite far-reaching. Whatever the legal code of the Malay sultanates those days, taking the Kanun Undang-undang Melaka or the Malacca Digest as an example, one needs to bear in mind that in those days there