(Updated 15 August 2026)
Article 20 of the Negeri Sembilan Constitution 1959 sets the minimum attendance required before the Dewan Keadilan dan Undang (DKU) may transact business.
What the Article means
Article 20: The one-half attendance quorum, and the exclusion of the presiding member
No business except that of adjournment shall be transacted by the Dewan if there are less than one-half of the members present besides the President or other member presiding.
Article 20 defines quorum for DKU meetings. If fewer than half of the members other than the person presiding are present, the Dewan cannot transact any business except adjournment. Every other item of business, from giving advice on questions of Malay Custom under Article 16 to confirming minutes under Article 22, requires quorum.
How is DKU quorum counted?
The phrase ‘besides the President or other member presiding’ means that whoever presides, that person is excluded from the count. Under Article 19, the Yang di-Pertuan Besar presides at all meetings of the Dewan, and in His absence the members choose one from among themselves to take the chair. Quorum requires at least one half of the remaining membership to be present, in addition to the chair.
The denominator comes from Article 17, which defines the membership of the Dewan. When all the offices listed there are filled, there are eight members before any appointed members are added: His Highness, the four Undangs, the Tunku Besar of Tampin, the Tunku Besar Seri Menanti and the Dato’ Shahbandar of Sungei Ujong.
For example, if His Highness presides over a Dewan comprising eight members in total, His Highness is excluded from the quorum calculation. That leaves seven members for quorum purposes, of whom at least four must be present.
Article 24 permits the Dewan to invite to any of its meetings any person whose presence it considers desirable. Invitees may attend, but they are not members of the Dewan and do not count towards quorum.
What Article 20 does not say
Membership vacancies: The Article does not define what happens where an office stands empty. The stronger textual reading is that a vacant office drops out of the count. Article 20 speaks of “members” being “present”, and a vacant office means no member is capable of attending. The Constitution does not, however, expressly state how vacancies affect the denominator.
Contested Seats: Where two people claim one office, Article 20 does not specify whose attendance counts towards the half. The underlying status question is dealt in Article 16 which expressly places questions concerning the election, succession, removal or vacation of office of a Ruling Chief within the DKU's advisory jurisdiction, and Article 16(3) provides that its advice on questions of Malay Custom is final and cannot be challenged in court.
Why this matters: the 31 July 2026 sitting
Posts circulating on social media since early August claim that the DKU lacked quorum when it sat on 31 July 2026 (Facebook, 8 Aug 2026, Facebook, 14 Aug 2026).
The quorum dispute has two moving parts. The first is composition: who lawfully held each office on 31 July? The second is the arithmetic: once that membership is identified, do vacant offices remain part of the denominator under Article 20?
The DKU’s official statement of 1 August 2026 records that the Dewan convened on 31 July under the chairmanship of the Yang di-Pertuan Besar, Tuanku Muhriz. It records the attendance of the Undang of Sungei Ujong, the Undang of Rembau and the Tunku Besar Seri Menanti, and states that the quorum requirement under Article 20 was satisfied. Malay Mail likewise reported that the sitting was convened with full quorum as required under the Constitution (Malay Mail, 1 August 2026).
What was the composition of the DKU on 31 July 2026?
The calculation below therefore begins with the composition recognised by the DKU. Set against the Article 17 membership, the eight named offices stood as follows on 31 July:
Yang di-Pertuan Besar: presided, and therefore stands outside the count under Article 20
Undang of Luak Sungei Ujong: held by Dato’ Klana Petra Muhammad Faris bin Johari, installed by the Luak on 27 June 2026; present
Undang of Luak Rembau: held by Dato’ Sedia Raja Haji Hassan bin Ab Hamid, installed by the Luak on 27 June 2026; present
Undang of Luak Johol: held by Datuk Muhammed Abdullah; absent from the attendance list
Undang of Luak Jelebu: vacant, the Luak’s dismissal of the former Undang having been acknowledged with effect from 31 May 2023
Tunku Besar of Tampin: held by Tunku Syed Razman Syed Idrus Al-Qadri; absent from the attendance list
Tunku Besar Seri Menanti: held by Tunku Ali Redhauddin ibni Tuanku Muhriz; present
Dato’ Shahbandar of Sungei Ujong: vacant since 30 July 2026, following removal by the Ibu Soko and Anak-Anak Waris of the Luak
No additional members had been appointed under Article 17 at the time.
How is DKU quorum counted on 31 July 2026?
On the DKU’s stated constitutional position, six of the eight named offices therefore had holders on 31 July and two were vacant. If “members” in Article 20 means the persons who actually held membership at the time, the calculation is straightforward. Six members existed. The presiding member is excluded, leaving five members for quorum purposes. One-half of five is two and a half. Three were present. On that reading, the sitting was quorate.
Article 17 supports that interpretation. It states that he Dewan “shall consist of” the specified office-holders. Where an office is vacant, there is no office-holder capable of being a member or being “present” for the purposes of Article 20.
The contrary reading treats all eight named offices as part of the denominator even when an office is vacant. On that approach, the presiding member is excluded from eight, leaving seven. Half of seven is three and a half, so four members would have to attend. Only three did. On the DKU’s recognised composition, this is the route by which the no-quorum argument succeeds: the two vacant offices must continue to count towards the denominator.
There is a separate disagreement underlying some of the claims circulating on social media. These claims proceed from a different view of who lawfully occupied some of the Undang offices on 31 July (Facebook, 14 August 2026). That is a question of composition, not a question of quorum arithmetic.
Article 20 does not resolve competing claims to office. Quorum can only be calculated based on the lawful membership of the Dewan. The arithmetic is straightforward, but ultimately the 2026 dispute hinges on who counts as a member.
The Constitution numbers its Articles in Roman numerals. This publication uses Arabic numerals for readability.
Our posts referencing Article 20:
Can Negeri Sembilan’s Ruling Chiefs Suspend the DKU Secretary and Convene Their Own Sitting?
Does Article 79 Let the Ruling Chiefs Convene a DKU Sitting on 5 June?
Sources:
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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.
