The Johor State Constitution (; Jawi: ) is the state

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

Johor Johor, also spelled Johore,'' is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. It borders with Pahang, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan to the north. Johor has maritime borders with Singapore ...

, promulgated on 14 April 1895 by Sultan Abu Bakar. The contents of the constitution covers: * The procedures for the selection and

coronation A coronation ceremony marks the formal investiture of a monarch with regal power using a crown. In addition to the crowning, this ceremony may include the presentation of other items of regalia, and other rituals such as the taking of special v ...

of the

Sultan of Johor The Sultan of Johor (Malay language, Malay: ''Sultan Johor''; Jawi script, Jawi: ) is a hereditary seat and the sovereign ruler of the Malaysian state of Johor. In the past, the sultan held absolute power over the state and was advised by a '' ...

, as well as the succession procedures * The laws and responsibilities of the State Assembly, Executive Council (Exco) and their members * Rules regarding

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

as the official religion of Johor * The development of the basics of legal punishments by justice courts * International deals Since 1895, the Johor State Constitution was revised 4 times: * First Revision (1 April 1908) * Second Revision (17 September 1912) * Third Revision (12 May 1914) * Fourth Revision (17 July 1918)

Role in Malay nationalism

The Johor State Constitution was the first written constitution among the Malay states. The Johor State Constitution played a major role for the Malays during their opposition to the formation of the

Malayan Union The Malayan Union (; Jawi: كساتوان مالايا) was a union of the Malay states and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca. It was the successor to British Malaya and was conceived to unify the Malay Peninsula under a single g ...

. The key factors of their protest was that all the sultans of Malay states would lose their power as the rulers of their respective states, and the way Sir Harold MacMichael threatened the sultans for their signatures. Sultan Ibrahim of Johor was encouraged by MacMichael to sign on the treaty, sparking anger among Malays, claiming that signing the Malayan Union treaty violated the Johor State Constitution which disallowed the Sultan of Johor from performing actions that might threaten the

sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...

of Johor. As a response to the protest, he hosted the UMNO's first general assembly at his palace in

Johor Bahru Johor Bahru, abbreviated as JB, is the capital city of the Malaysian state of Johor. It is the core city of Johor Bahru District, Malaysia's second-largest district by population and the second-largest district economy. Covering an area of ...

in May 1946. He also joined the boycott of the installation of the Malayan Union's first

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

. Due to the success of the Malayan Union protest, rulers of other Malay states began using Johor State Constitution as a model for their own constitutions in order to protect the sovereignty of Malay states.

References

# Haji Buyung Adil, ''"Sejarah Johor"'', Kuala Lumpur, DBP, 1971 p. 261. # Fauzi Basri and Hasrom Haron. ''"Sejarah Johor- Moden 1855-1940: Satu Perbincangan dari Pelbagai Aspek"'', Kuala Lumpur. Jabatan Muzium Semenanjung Malaysia, 1978, p. 229. # ''Ibid,'' p. 251 # ''Ibid,'' p. 254

External links

Government of Johor

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926225826/http://hids.arkib.gov.my/doc/2000/april/14_04_1895_2000.htm , date=2007-09-26 British Malaya Government of Johor Constitution of Malaysia