The King’s speech - The Malaysian Insider

Sometimes, it is best to keep silent. Dr Wan Junaidi Jaafar says that the palace had major input in the Royal Address at delivered by the King today.

He also denied that the text was prepared by the Prime Minister's Office, saying that speech was prepared by the palace.

Guess what, Wan Junaidi. It is convention and tradition that the government prepares the speech delivered by the monarch. There is a committee in the government which discusses and decides on the main points of the speech.

Of course, the King can tweak and can exclude paragraphs if it offends him but by and large, the speeches are delivered in toto.

Wan Junaidi was denying statements by Pakatan Rakyat leaders that the Royal Address was prepared by the Barisan Nasional government. The point of contention was the King's advice for all parties to accept the results of the general elections.

Pakatan Rakyat leaders have refused to accept the May 5 results, saying that there was widespread electoral fraud. Anwar Ibrahim is correct when he says that the Royal Address cannot function as a directive.

The most powerful individuals in the House are the MPs who represent the electorate, the most significant constituency in any democracy. Their role is to debate any issue of national importance and no one should attempt to preclude areas from scrutiny.

It is really silly of Wan Junaidi to argue that it is the palace which prepared the Royal Address. Because across the aisle are politicians who at one time were part of the BN government.

Anwar noted that he also was part of a committee which prepared the Royal Address when he was the deputy prime minister.