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The principle known as "separation of powers" which is also referred to as "checks and
balances" serves as testament to the brilliance and forethought of the drafters of the
Constitution of the United States of America. By designing a tripartite federal government, a
federal government with three, coequal branches, the drafters bequeathed to their
descendants the last, best hope for government of the people, by the people, and for the
people. Assuming everything works as designed, the drafters created the governmental
equivalent of rock, paper scissors.

However, separation of powers does not operate or emerge in a vacuum. It is the result of a
multi-layered design which includes the complimentary principle known as "division of
powers." Division of powers is the often overlooked principle of dividing governmental power
among the federal, state, and local governments. Also, each `
` of government within the
United States of America is comprised of an executive branch, a legislative branch, and a
judicial branch.

In sum, the complimentary principles known as "separation of powers" and "division of

powers" operate and emerge in such a way as to prevent the concentration of governmental
power from reaching the level at which real harm may be done.

To view a transcript of the Preamble as well as Articles I through VII of the Constitution of the
United States of America, a transcript of the 1st through the 10th Amendments, also known as
the Bill of Rights, and a transcript of the 11th through the 27th Amendments, access the links
under Related Links, below.
"Separation of Powers" divides the decision making abilities to more than one person. By
separating powers, no one person has too much power, and therefore cannot abuse their
power. An example of this are the three forms of government: Judicial, Legislative and
Executive. In a company, an example of separation of powers is an owner, a General Manager
or CEO and a board. Another example would be sending two people to access a safe at a bank;
one who only has the power to open the safe, the other who only has the power to take what
is necessary.

Read
more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_the_term_Separation_of_Powers_mean#ixzz1F
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Malaysia is a country that practices Parliamentary Democracy and Constitutional Monarchy since
achieving independence from British rule on August 31, 1957. The structure of government in Malaysia
is very similar to what is practised in Great Britain. This is due to the fact that the Malay Peninsular, as
Malaysia was formerly known, was a former British Colony and prior to its independence a commission
was appointed to draft the Federal Constitution based on the system of parliamentary democracy as
practised in Great Britain. This independent commission was called The Reid Commission. TheFederal
Constitution divides the structure of government to three different branches- Legislature, Executive, and,
ºudiciary . This concept is based on the theory of "separation of powers" as practised in Great Britain.

The theory of separation of powers was first introduced by Montesquieu (1689-1755), a French
philosopher and author, in his book 'Spirit of the Laws' (Esprit Des Lois, 1748) . This book was written
based on Montesquieu's observation while visiting England in comparison to what was happening in his
homeland at that time. France was then ruled by Louis XVI who proclaimed "I am the state" which
means that he is the ab

According to Mahathir Mohamad (1995), the judiciary has to be separated from the legislative and
executive but the government must at least have a say in the choice and appointment of judges .
Yaacob Hussein Merican (1979) says, the executive has from time to time modified or annulled
decisions of the Court not in its favour by taking advantage of its majority in Parliament to introduce
laws to 'remedy' these judgements . The executive had at times seemed to be unable to gracefully and
responsibly accept rulings made by the Courts. According to Aziz Zariza Ahmad (1997), the Prime
Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohd. has regarded court judgements not in favour of the government as being
politically motivated and as an open challenge to the authority of the executive by the judiciary. Thus,
the government decided to amend the Constitution to "fix" matters. Amendments to the Constitution are
difficult to achieve and hardly ever done in the United States. This is because apart from a ° majority of
supporting votes in the Senate, amendments must also be agreed to and supported by at least ¾ of the
country's population.

Under Article 121 of the Federal Constitution, appointment of judges is made by the Yang di-Pertuan
Agong after consultation with the Counsel of Rulers. However it is important to note that any actions
taken by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in his capacity as the Head of the Federation is on the advice of
the Cabinet. Indirectly, selections and appointments of judges are actually done by the Cabinet. Article
125(3) states that removal of judges is the prerogative of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong after receiving the
report of a tribunal set up by him for such purposes. However, the same Article also states that
members of this tribunal is "suggested" to him by the Prime Minister or Lord President (Chief ºustice).
In the case regarding the removal of the Lord President, Tun Salleh Abbas, in 1988, nominations of
members of the Tribunal was submitted by the Prime Minister and consented to by the Yang di-Pertuan
Agong on the same day, ºune 11,1988. This shows that the executive is able to control the power of
the judiciary while at the same time weakening the judiciary's power to check on its (executive) actions.
However, Mahathir Mohamad (1995) claims that the judiciary is still free to make judgements without
coercion, fear or favour. To support this claim, he cited several cases where decisions by the courts
were not in favour of the government.