This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on February 26, 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah hopes that the best solution to Malaysia’s political conundrum will be found.

“Let me do the duties. I hope we will find the best solution for the country,” he told reporters camped at the entrance of Istana Negara here as he distributed bags of food to surprised journalists during lunch time yesterday.

Earlier, Datuk Pengelola Bijaya Datuk Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin told the press during a special briefing at Istana Negara that 90 members of Parliament (MPs) had been summoned for a personal interview with the Agong starting at 2.30pm, while the rest will be called today.

All 222 MPs will be interviewed one by one by the Agong himself to determine who commands the majority in the Dewan Rakyat to become the next prime minister.

“We do not segregate by party,” Ahmad Fadil said. The King, he added, wanted to conduct the due process with transparency to avoid speculation.

When asked, he reiterated that the King will decide on who will be the new prime minister based on who among the candidates proposed by the MPs has the command of the majority in the Dewan Rakyat.

“What the King practises is in line with the Federal Constitution, based on Article 43(2),” he added.