Constitution of Malaysia

The Federal Constitution of Malaysia, which came into force in 1957 as the Constitution of the Federation of Malaya and was amended in 1963 to form the Constitution of Malaysia, is the supreme law of Malaysia and contains a total of 183 articles. It is a written legal document influenced by two earlier documents, the Federation of Malaya Agreement 1948 and the Independence Constitution of 1957, and it took its present name when the states of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore joined the Federation. The Constitution establishes Malaysia as a constitutional monarchy with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong as head of state in a largely ceremonial role, and it provides for three branches of government: a bicameral Parliament of the House of Representatives and the Senate, an executive branch led by the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and a judicial branch headed by the Federal Court.