Raja Aziz Addruse Lecture

Topic: The Parliamentary System and Formation of Government
Date: 11 July 2023 (Tuesday)
Time: 4:30 pm to 5:45 pm
Venue: Grand Ballroom, Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur
Speaker: Dato’ Dr Cyrus V Das, Past President, Malaysian Bar (1997–1999); Chairman, Constitutional and Rule of Law Committee, LAWASIA; Honorary Life President, Commonwealth Lawyers Association

The sixth edition of the Memorial Lecture will address the principles of a parliamentary system leading to the formation of an elected government. The parliamentary system envisages the formation of a cabinet government drawn from majority support in the legislature. It envisages a government headed by a parliamentary leader as the first officer of government called the Prime Minister, to be appointed by a constitutional monarch on being satisfied that the candidate commands the confidence of the majority of the legislators.

The enduring question is whether the confidence is measured by a floor-vote, as opposed to aliunde or alternative methods of determination. The question is brought to the fore in the absence of a clear majority of any political party in the legislature, and particularly, when there are changes in leadership in the interregnum between general elections. The experiences of Commonwealth countries based on the Westminster system provide useful illustrations of the working of the parliamentary system and cabinet government.

About the Speaker

Dato’ Dr Cyrus V Das (LLB (Hons.)), PhD is a senior law practitioner at the Malaysian Bar. He served as President of the Malaysian Bar from 1997 to 1999.

He is presently the Chairman of the LAWASIA Constitutional and Rule of Law Committee, as well as the Honorary Life President of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association. He is also a Fellow of the Malaysian Institute of Arbitrators.

He has authored and edited the following books: Governments & Crisis Powers: A Study of Emergency Powers (1996); Justice through Law (Ed) 1997; Judges and Judicial Accountability (Co-Ed) 2004.

In 2011, Bar Council Malaysia instituted the Raja Aziz Addruse Memorial Lecture series in memory of Raja Aziz Addruse, the Malaysian Bar’s President thrice over.

The inaugural Raja Aziz Addruse Memorial Lecture, organised in collaboration with The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn Alumni Association of Malaysia, was held at the Bar Council’s Raja Aziz Addruse Auditorium on 29 October 2011.  Chief Justice of India (Retired) J S Verma delivered the lecture, entitled “Humane Governance: Imperative for Human Rights”.

Subsequent memorial lectures feature as plenary sessions during the Malaysian Bar’s biennial International Malaysia Law Conference (“IMLC”).

• Ben Emmerson QC, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism:
  “Counter-Terrorism, Human Rights and the Rule of Law — The UN Perspective” (27 September 2012)
• Yang Amat Mulia Tunku Zain Al-‘Abidin ibni Tuanku Muhriz, founding President of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (“IDEAS”):
  “Inspirations from Raja Aziz Addruse: Morality and the Rule of Law” (24 September 2014)
• Zainah Anwar, Director of Musawah:
  “In Search of Common Ground: Reconciling Religion and Human Rights” (21 September 2016)
• Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr Hj Shad Saleem Faruqi, Holder of the Tunku Abdul Rahman Chair, Faculty of Law, University of Malaya:
  “30th Anniversary of the 1988 Judicial Crisis: Lessons about the Importance of Judicial Independence and Impartiality“ (15 August 2018)