I do believe that the Sultan of Perak, a former Lord President, has erred when he refused to dissolve the State Assembly and call for fresh polls on the advice of his Mentri Besar Mohd Nizar yesterday. Even UMNO's Tengku Razaleigh, himself a royal, thinks so and describes the situation there as "shameful". Read about it, here.
"To formally test the mandate of the current government, whether in Perak, Sabah or the Federal government, the question must either be put to the people through state elections, or to the assemblymen through a formal vote in the dewan. These are the only tests that count in our constitutional democracy," he said."To remove and install governments in any other way is to violate the Constitution, erode the rule of law, and to run the risk of forming an illegal government."
Ku Li further concludes that "Legitimate authority can only be established through the democratic means spelled out in our constitution. Rightful authority is an entirely different thing from the brute power that can be bought, sold or seized by force. The invisible laws make our government, nation and society possible. I won’t begin to describe the harm we would do these things if we began to ratify power achieved without regard for the rule of law in this country."
Now I wonder WTF is Ku Li doing still hanging on aboard a sinking ship.
Friday, February 06, 2009
9 comments:
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The Ancient Mariner
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Dear Captain,
ReplyDeleteIt might just be my computer system, but the last few days the wording in your blog have all shrunk to a font size of 4.5, a bit difficult to read. I had to copy and paste onto a blank word doc and enlarge the font size before I could read.
May God help Malaysia in this Darkest hour!
Anon 12:37
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for pointing this out. No wonder there have been very few comments these past few days!
The glitch is on my side, actually. With a new desktop, I have had problems setting screen resolutions etc. My son Hisham has just fixed it. Thanks again.
Fair-minded citizens cannot accept the fact that a government that has the backing of the majority of votes is usurped in this most despicable manner.
ReplyDeleteWait another 4 years? God knows how much damage these corruptors can do in that time.
Ours is a sham democracy, all empty talk. The truth is a handful of people from elite families run the country as they wish.
Capt thank god that tere are people like you who do not see thing with blinkers on,if you see all this so called political analyst talking you would want to puke.
ReplyDeleteAs you have always said this Malaysia is for all of us,god bless.
Capt. Agreed with your view points. Indeed a sad day for democracy but as usual we must continue to move forward.
ReplyDeleteThe Dewan should have been dissolved and a fresh mandate got from the Rakyaat but it has not happen and I believe it would happen in due course. It is not going to be easy but with determination the Rakyaat shall prevail.
I am glad you got the page back as usual. Have a nice day
dear Capt..
ReplyDeletethe Malaysia's dirtiest democracy had happened in Perak. may Allah helps us all, especially for Perakian. personnally...i eagerly want to see PR's work for at least for one term. things might goes well...but this power-hunger bugger just can't a little longer..
penjunjung daulat.
Captain
ReplyDeleteI am saddened but a friend told me that if I am a student of Hikayat Hang Tuah or history of the Malay Sultanates, I should not be too sad.
He said this:
a) The Perak Sultan cannot be so dumb and silly for not knowing the law and constitutional process having been at the top of the heap in the judiciary. And His Highness is a smart person.
b) Why did he almost immediately after meeting Najib, ask Nizar to resign.
c) Why did he immediately told Nizar if he didn't, his MB postt will be vacant immediately
d) Why did the sultan hurriedly appoint a new MB.
e) He knew the PR has contested the decision of the EC on the froggies's seats.
d) MB Nizar said in the press conference that when he told the Sultan of what he wrote in a book by the Sultan himself, Nizar said the Sultan did not make eye contact and just looked downward.
I thought that was an interesting observation.
I find all above out action out of character of His Highness. The sudden and hurriedness very unlike of judges and those in the legal profession and also as a ruler of age and wisdom.. the Malay adat of tenang and sabar.
It is hard to reconcile a monarch and his son who voice the aspirations of his subject and modern in outlook to make such unfriendly decision on his subjects.
There must be something else at work in the minds of the Sultan, unspoken and to be revealed in slow motion fashion.
The rumour mill is that the Sultan is poking an eye on Najib ( who is not a Perakian and an Federal MP)who came to see him on his state's internal affairs. Being a monarch and in the ways of royalty, he had to remain a royal in the face of such crude affront from Najib.
We can be sure His Highness is against defections as unethical and unacceptable, yet UMNO and Najib as DPM is putting pressure on him.
So His Highness says to himself: OK if they is what you want, I will give it to you. I will give it to you right away. I will take and bear the "cross" so to speak, the criticism from my own subjects.
Here is the catch: By doing so, the door is open to Anwar and the PR to capture Najib's federal goverment by calling out the other frogs in BN. And if Anwar succeeds, Najib and UMNO cannot play double standards.
That is the His Highness in a sleigh of hand, is opening the door for PR and Anwar to go for the Federal Parliament before the next general election. UMNO has lost the high moral ground on the defecion issue when Anwar makes his move for the Federal Parliament takeover.
The contrary view to that is the issue of GAMUDA... the Perak Palace has a high stake in it and with her daughter caught with declining revenue from the royal family investment in the company.
Read in between the lines in Zorro's writeup.
My take for the Sultan's out of character action is to open the door for Anwar, so that UMNO and BN cannot claim the high moral ground the next time around.
Though I have never taken his views without some salt but this is an exception ' orang malaysia mudah lupa!!!' Right from the top to the bottom!
ReplyDeleteIn such situation, a fresh election would clear all claims andsatisfy all parties, including all Malaysians who respect law and order! Such under-hand tactic will be a short gain to BN, like winning the battle but forgo the war. I still like to think, this is heaven arranged!!
So Capt., we will sit and wait!
razaleigh's thoughts are of a stateman. but then, how often we seen the aptly coined phrase "cakap tak serupa bikin"?
ReplyDeleteremember someone wrote about role of monarchy in such a situation as in Perak? and what happened? enough of comments on that already.
Reality is that evil does triumph in the short term.