Q.
In what ways can the Constitution be amended?
A.
The Reid Commission recommended amendment to the Constitution:
Amendments should be made by Act of Parliament provided that an Act to amend the Constitution must be passed in each House by a majority of at least two-thirds of the members voting. In this matter the House of Representatives should not have power to overrule the Senate. We think that this is a sufficient safeguard for the States because the majority of members of the Senate will represent the States... (emphasis added.)
This recommendation by Reid Commission was taken as too easy, thus later revised to provide for the votes of not less than two-thirds of the total number of members of each Dewan. The revised recommendation now became part of what is known as Article 159 of the Federal Constitution.
Under this Article 159 and later Article 161E, are four (4) methods of which Constitution can be amended.
These four modes prescribed in the Constitution itself are the formal methods of amendment. In addition to this formal modes, there are informal modes of amendment. Judicial interpretation, where words in a constitutional provision do not change but their meaning undergoes a change resulting from interpretation by the court, is an informal mode of amendment.
Other than the two formal and informal constitution amendment pathways, the constitutional convention through which constitutional changes are discussed at higher level, is the third possible pathway that the Constitution may be amended. This evolution of constitutional conventions would most likely happen across multiple jurisdictions.
Ref:
Wan Arfah Hamzah (2009) A First Look at the Malaysian Legal System. Oxford Fajar. Pg: 47.