What is Article 17 of the Negeri Sembilan Constitution 1959?
Who sits on the Dewan Keadilan dan Undang, who may be added, and when the Menteri Besar is invited: a reading of Article 17.
Article 16 of the Negeri Sembilan Constitution 1959 creates the Dewan Keadilan dan Undang (DKU) and gives it its function: advice on questions relating to Malay custom in any part of the State, including questions relating to the election, succession, removal or vacation of office of any of the Ruling Chiefs. Article 17 answers the question that follows straight after it, which is who sits in the room.
It does four separate jobs: it names the office-holders who sit by virtue of the office they hold. It adds two further offices in their own right. It creates a power to appoint further members, and says who may exercise it. It then attaches a proviso about the Menteri Besar.
Because Article 17 supplies the membership, it also supplies the denominator for Article 20, which sets the quorum, and for Article 19, which makes the Yang di-Pertuan Besar the presiding member. Anything the DKU does depends on the list in Article 17 being settled.
What each clause means
Article 17 carries no clause numbering. The headings below divide the single sentence by subject rather than by number.
Article 17: The Yang di-Pertuan Besar and the Ruling Chiefs as members by virtue of office
The sentence opens by seating His Highness and the Ruling Chiefs. Both terms are defined elsewhere and imported into this Part by Article 4, which applies the interpretation provisions of Article 34 to the whole of the First Part.
Article 34 defines “Ruling Chiefs” as the Undang of the Luak (customary territory) of Sungei Ujong, the Undang of the Luak of Jelebu, the Undang of the Luak of Johol, the Undang of the Luak of Rembau, and the Tengku Besar of Tampin. It separately defines “the Undangs” as the Ruling Chiefs excluding the Tengku Besar of Tampin.
Two consequences follow. The Ruling Chiefs bring five seats to the DKU rather than four. And the four Undangs, who hold distinct powers elsewhere in the Constitution under Articles 7, 10, 11 and 29, occupy four seats out of the eight that Article 17 names.
Article 17: The Tunku Besar Seri Menanti and the Dato’ Shahbandar of Sungei Ujong
Article 17 then names two further office-holders individually. The Constitution’s 1959 spellings are “Tu Besar of Sri Menanti” and “Dato’ Shahbandar of Sungai Ujong”; both offices are now generally written in the modern forms used here.
The Tunku Besar Seri Menanti is the senior of the Putera Yang Empat (the four princes), conferred by the Yang di-Pertuan Besar in customary ceremony. The office has been held by Tunku Ali Redhauddin ibni Tuanku Muhriz since 22 February 2009, when the conferral was reported as only the third in 120 years (The Star, 23 February 2009). Tuanku Muhriz himself held the same seat before his own accession.
The Dato’ Shahbandar of Sungei Ujong sits under Article 15(1), which provides that he shall be the person lawfully elected as head of the Waris di Ayer (the water lineage) in accordance with the custom of the Luak of Sungei Ujong. Article 15(2) requires consultation between him and the Dato’ Klana as Undang on all matters affecting the affairs of that Luak.
The arithmetic is worth noticing: Luak Sungei Ujong supplies two of the eight named seats, and the other three Luak supply one each.
Article 17: The appointed Malay members, and who prescribes their term
The Dewan may also include “such other Malay member or members as may from time to time be appointed for such period as may be prescribed by His Highness and the Undangs.”
Three things are established by that phrase. Appointed membership carries a racial qualification, consistent with the qualifying conditions the Constitution applies to the throne under Article 7(3) and to the office of Menteri Besar under Article 36(2). The appointment runs for a period rather than for life, and that period is fixed at the time of appointment. And the power is joint, resting with the Yang di-Pertuan Besar together with the Undangs, so it takes both sides acting together.
Article 29 supplies the working majority for the Undangs’ side of that power. Powers conferred on the Undangs under this Part are duly exercised if exercised by at least three of them, or by as many of them as may be living at the time. The wording turns on who is living rather than on who is holding office, which is a drafting choice Article 28(2) does not repeat when it deals with discretionary functions under Article 40(2).
Article 17: The Menteri Besar’s attendance on State or National policy
The sentence closes with a proviso. Where the Dewan deliberates on State or National policy, the Menteri Besar shall be invited to attend.
The obligation falls on the invitation rather than on the attendance, and what it confers is presence rather than membership. Article 20 counts members towards the quorum, and the Constitution reserves the DKU’s advice to its members, so an invited Menteri Besar attends without joining the membership.
He has a separate point of contact with the Dewan under Article 16(2), which allows him to refer to it for advice any question relating to Malay custom, including questions of election, succession, removal or vacation of office of a Ruling Chief. Article 24 sits alongside both, permitting the Dewan to invite any person whose presence it considers desirable.
XVII. The Dewan shall consist of His Highness, the Ruling Chiefs, the Tengku Besar of Sri Menanti, Dato’ Shahbandar of Sungai Ujong and such other Malay member or members as may from time to time be appointed for such period as may be prescribed by His Highness and the Undangs provided that where the Dewan deliberates on State or National policy the Menteri Besar shall be invited to attend.
What Article 17 does not say
Article 17 is a list of offices, and the questions it leaves open are the ones that arise when an office is in dispute.
Vacancy and contested title. The Article assumes each named office has one holder. Where a seat stands empty, or where two people claim it, the answer comes from elsewhere. Questions of that kind fall to Article 16, under which the DKU advises on the election, succession, removal or vacation of office of a Ruling Chief, with that advice made final and unchallengeable in any court by Article 16(3).
Removal of a member. The Article provides for appointment and for a prescribed period, and it stops there. Ex officio members leave the Dewan when they leave the office, by whatever route the office itself provides.
A ceiling on appointed members. The words “member or members” carry no upper figure. In principle the Yang di-Pertuan Besar and three Undangs acting together could appoint any number.
A definition of “State or National policy”. The phrase governing the Menteri Besar’s attendance has gone undefined since 1959. On a natural reading, advice on a question of Malay custom under Article 16 sits outside it, which would leave the proviso untouched by a sitting convened to consider the position of a Ruling Chief.
Voting, weighting or procedure. All of that is left to Article 21, which allows the Dewan to determine its own procedure and to appoint its own committees, subject to the rest of the Constitution.
The membership question stopped being academic in May 2026. Six plaintiffs filed an originating summons at the Seremban High Court seeking the minutes of the DKU special sitting of 17 April 2026, claiming the entitlement as members of the DKU (The Star, 6 May 2026). That claimed entitlement rests on Article 17, and Article 17 confers membership on offices rather than on persons, so it can be answered only by settling who holds which office. Related proceedings remain before the courts, and this entry describes the constitutional text rather than any matter in issue.
The Adat saying goes, duduk sama rendah, berdiri sama tinggi (sit at the same level, stand at the same height). Article 17 does something close to that in constitutional form. A Ruler, five Ruling Chiefs, a prince and the head of a water lineage are seated in one chamber, and the Article distinguishes between them only by naming them.
One point of arithmetic is easy to miss. Article 20 prohibits business where fewer than one-half of the members are present besides the presiding member, so on eight named seats a sitting needs the presiding member and at least four others. Each additional appointed member raises that floor rather than lowering it. Whatever else the appointment power in Article 17 could be used for, enlarging the Dewan raises the threshold for convening it.
Article 17 names eight offices and gives the Dewan a hand in filling none of them. Four are settled by Luak custom, one by primogeniture, one by the custom of the Waris di Ayer, one by royal conferral, and one by the Undangs electing a Yang di-Pertuan Besar. Anyone who wants to change who sits in the DKU has to go somewhere else and change who holds an office, which describes a good deal of what has happened since April 2026.
Footnote: The Constitution numbers its Articles in Roman numerals. This publication uses Arabic numerals for readability.
Our posts referencing Article 17
What Is the Dewan Keadilan dan Undang (DKU)?
An Anonymous Law Review’s Case Against Tuanku Muhriz Examined
Can Negeri Sembilan’s Ruling Chiefs Suspend the DKU Secretary and Convene Their Own Sitting?
Joint Media Statement 29 May 2029: the removal of the DKU Secretary
Anak Nogori Weekly Round-Up (18-24 May, 2026)
Tuanku Muhriz is still the Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan
What Is Article 15 of the Negeri Sembilan Constitution 1959?
What is Article 10 of the Negeri Sembilan Constitution 1959
Anak Nogori is independent commentary on the unfolding constitutional crisis in Negeri Sembilan, where centuries-old Adat Perpatih, royal succession law, and modern political manoeuvring are colliding in ways Malaysia has never seen before. If you find this useful, share it with someone who should be following this, or subscribe to receive the latest articles in your inbox.
