Perak monarchy 'embarassed' by imbroglio

The Perak sultan and the monarchy have been “embarrassed” by the political imbroglio following BN’s power grab of the state government three months ago, said veteran Umno leader Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.
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Razaleigh, who is uncle to the Kelantan sultan, said that the royalty had been hurt by the systematic attempts by some within Umno to inflame the Perak impasse into one of “race and treason”.

At last month’s Bukit Gantang by-election where Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin had stood as a candidate, Umno had accused the ousted menteri besar of treason and described him as a stooge of key coalition partner, the predominantly-Chinese DAP.

“Such attempts only hurt the institutions they claim to protect, and they hurt Umno and BN,” said Razaleigh in his latest blog posting.

Commenting on the court decision yesterday to recognise Nizar as the lawful menteri besar, Razaleigh said the ruling had affirmed the primacy of the constitution.

“According to the constitution, Nizar is menteri besar until he resigns of his own accord, or is removed by a vote of no-confidence in a formal sitting of the assembly. The constitution makes no provision for his removal by any other means, including by petitions or instructions from any other authority.”

Razaleigh hopes that the Perak sultan, who had earlier asked Nizar to resign, would now agreed to the Perak MB’s request to dissolve the assembly and make way for fresh elections in the state.

“This is the decent thing to do, but also the only way out of a crisis which has already spiralled out of Perak, damaged the rule of law, compromised the judiciary, the police and the state civil service, and damaged the monarchy in public opinion.”

Nizar has this morning sought an audience with the Perak regent Nazrin Raja Dr Nazrin Shah, who is standing in for the sultan, who is unavailable.

It’s better for BN to risk state elections

The Umno leader said that Umno’s “constitutional misadventure” will have repercussions.

“The government led by Zambry (Abd Kadir) was all along illegitimate and all decisions and contracts made by that government are without legal status. The cascade of illegalities we warned of must now be unwound painfully.

“This includes the deplorable events of May 7 in Ipoh. It means the resolution to replace the speaker was brought by an illegal state government.”

Razaleigh also ticked off Umno leaders for their political manoeuvres which have brought odium to both the monarchy and country.

“Our ideals are cheated when the monarchy we claim to protect is brought down to the level of desperate political manoeuvres that discredit us at home and abroad. We have no future as a party if we are seen as being against the people rather than for them.

“Those unable to rise above narrow party interests to understand what happens to a country when a government loses respect for the law might still like to consider this: it is better for BN to risk state elections that we may lose rather than to lose the entire country by being seen to be opposed to decency, the rule of law, and the will of the people.”