Skip to main content
Home Case law Statutes Constitutions
Esheria Esheria Malaysia Constitution
Share

Share this page

Send a link to this legal source.

Share to X Share to LinkedIn

Sign in
  1. Constitutions
  2. Malaysia
  3. (1) The Yang di-Pertuan Agong has power to grant pardons,

🇲🇾 MalaysiaConstitution

Perlembagaan Persekutuan

(1) The Yang di-Pertuan Agong has power to grant pardons,

The Executive

Jurisdiction
Malaysia
Provision
42
Source language
English
Recorded status
in force
More details
Recorded status
in force

Provision text

Official source
42. (1) The Yang di-Pertuan Agong has power to grant pardons, reprieves and respites in respect of all offences which have been tried by court-martial and all offences committed in the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya; and the Ruler or Yang di-Pertua Negeri of a State has power to grant pardons, reprieves and respites in respect of all other offences committed in his State. [Article 42] Federal Constitution 47 (2) Subject to Clause (10), and without prejudice to any provision of federal law relating to remission of sentences for good conduct or special services, any power conferred by federal or State law to remit, suspend or commute sentences for any offence shall be exercisable by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong if the sentence was passed by a court-martial or by a civil court exercising jurisdiction in the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya and, in any other case, shall be exercisable by the Ruler or Yang di-Pertua Negeri of the State in which the offence was committed. (3) Where an offence was committed wholly or partly outside the Federation or in more than one State or in circumstances which make it doubtful where it was committed, it shall be treated for the purposes of this Article as having been committed in the State in which it was tried. For the purpose of this Clause the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, the Federal Territory of Labuan and the Federal Territory of Putrajaya, shall each be regarded as a State. (4) The powers mentioned in this Article— (a) are, so far as they are exercisable by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, among functions with respect to which federal law may make provision under Clause (3) of Article 40; (b) shall, so far as they are exercisable by the Ruler or Yang di-Pertua Negeri of a State, be exercised on the advice of a Pardons Board constituted for that State in accordance with Clause (5). (5) The Pardons Board constituted for each State shall consist of the Attorney General of the Federation, the Chief Minister of the State and not more than three other members, who shall be appointed by the Ruler or Yang di-Pertua Negeri; but the Attorney General may from time to time by instrument in writing delegate his functions as a member of the Board to any other person, and the Ruler or Yang di-Pertua Negeri may appoint any person to exercise temporarily the functions of any member of the Board appointed by him who is absent or unable to act. (6) The members of a Pardons Board appointed by the Ruler or Yang di-Pertua Negeri shall be appointed for a term of three years and shall be eligible for reappointment, but may at any time resign from the Board. [Article 42] Federal Constitution 48 (7) A member of the Legislative Assembly of a State or of the House of Representatives shall not be appointed by the Ruler or Yang di-Pertua Negeri to be a member of a Pardons Board or to exercise temporarily the functions of such a member. (8) The Pardons Board shall meet in the presence of the Ruler or Yang di-Pertua Negeri and he shall preside over it. (9) Before tendering their advice on any matter a Pardons Board shall consider any written opinion which the Attorney General may have delivered thereon. (10) Notwithstanding anything in this Article, the power to grant pardons, reprieves and respites in respect of, or to remit, suspend or commute sentences imposed by any court established under any law regulating Islamic religious affairs in the State of Malacca, Penang, Sabah or Sarawak or the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya shall be exercisable by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong as Head of the religion of Islam in the State. (11) For the purpose of this Article, there shall be constituted a single Pardons Board for the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya and the provisions of Clauses (5), (6), (7), (8) and (9) shall apply mutatis mutandis to the Pardons Board under this Clause except that reference to “Ruler or Yang di-Pertua Negeri” shall be construed as reference to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and reference to “Chief Minister of the State” shall be construed as reference to the Minister responsible for the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya. (12) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Constitution, where the powers mentioned in this Article— (a) are exercisable by the Yang di-Pertua Negeri of a State and are to be exercised in respect of himself or his wife, son or daughter, such powers shall be exercised by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong acting on the advice of the Pardons Board constituted for that State under this Article and which shall be presided over by him; (b) are to be exercised in respect of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the Ruler of a State, or his Consort, as the case may be, such powers shall be exercised by the Conference of Rulers and the following provisions shall apply: [Article 42] Federal Constitution 49 (i) when attending any proceedings under this Clause, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall not be accompanied by the Prime Minister and the other Rulers shall not be accompanied by their Menteri-Menteri Besar; (ii) before arriving at its decision on any matter under this Clause, the Conference of Rulers shall consider any written opinion which the Attorney General may have delivered thereon; (c) are to be exercised by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or the Ruler of a State in respect of his son or daughter, as the case may be, such powers shall be exercised by the Ruler of a State nominated by the Conference of Rulers who shall act in accordance with the advice of the relevant Pardons Board constituted under this Article. (13) For the purpose of paragraphs (b) and (c) of Clause (12), the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or the Ruler of the State concerned, as the case may be, and the Yang di-Pertua-Yang di-Pertua Negeri shall not be members of the Conference of Rulers. Cabinet

Source record

Source and verification

Perlembagaan Persekutuan · lom.agc.gov.my · Retrieved 18 August 2026.

Check the upstream source for currency, amendments, and official formatting. The recorded status describes this source version.

Open upstream source

On this page

Provision textSource and verificationAll Malaysia provisions

Continue researching

Search this constitutionBrowse global constitutions

About this LexChat collection

Public constitutional materials with source attribution and rights-aware access. Verify the official wording before relying on a provision. Report corrections to hello@esheria.ai.

Back to Malaysia Constitution