KOTA KINABALU, April 26 -- Constitutional lawyers seem to be in agreement that in a dispute between state rulers and the Constitution, the latter reigns supreme when it comes to the rule of law.

Lawyers polled by Malay Mail agree that while state constitutions used to play a big role in the state, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is right about the constitutional monarch not having executive power in the democracy.

However, the lawyers did point out that it was incorrect of Dr Mahathir to say that the state constitutions ? referring to Johor and Terengganu ? were "nullified"; they were just "modified" according to the new Federal Constitution then.

"The pre-Merdeka Johor Constitution gave wide powers to the monarch. But when we c...