马来西亚国家元首制度:历史制度主义的分析

The Head of State System in Malaysia: An Analysis of Historical Institutionalism

马来西亚国家元首制度在一般的分类标准上可以归为君主立宪制,但其最高元首作为特定族群特权守护者和宗教领袖的特殊身份、选举轮任的产生方式则是一般君主立宪制下的国家元首所没有的。这一独具特色的国家元首制度和马来西亚在族群关系、政教关系、立法—行政关系与中央—地方关系上的一系列制度安排之间具有相当的互补性,从而使其在变迁的环境中能够保持相对的稳定性和强大的适应性。马来西亚国家元首制度最早可以追溯到古代马来亚地区的王权。这种王权历经15世纪初马六甲王国的伊斯兰化、1874年《邦咯条约》后苏丹的虚君化和1946年马来亚联盟计划失败后马来人特权的宪法化这三个关键节点,才演化为今天的"选举轮任的马来伊斯兰君主立宪制"。

The head of state system in Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy in general classification standards.However,it has its own characteristics which make it very different from the other constitutional monarchy.As the defender of Malay rights and Islamic religious leader,Yang di-Pertuan Agong is elected among the Malay Rulers on the basis of seniority for a five-year term.The complementarities between the head of the state system and the institutional arrangements in such kind of political relations as the ethnic relations,religion-state relations,legislative-executive relations,central and local relations increase the stability and adaptability of the head of the state system under the changeable circumstances.The head of state system in Malaysia can be traced back to the kingship in ancient Malaya.This kind of kingship has evolved into the"rotating Malay Islam constitutional monarchy"in contemporary Malaysia through three critical junctures:Islamization of Kingdom of Malacca in early of 15th century,virtualization of sultan after the Pangkor Engagement in 1874 and constitutionalization of Malay supremacy after the failure of Malayan Union scheme in 1946.