The Sultan’s Menteri Besar

Whether Pakatan Rakyat can retain Selangor in the next general election and whether Khalid will get to serve a third term is yet to be seen. Khalid himself may feel that two terms in enough. After all, by 2018, when the next GE is expected, Khalid will be 72 and that would be a good age to retire and spend some time with the grandchildren before you leave this world.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Selangor has had 14 Menteris Besar before this since the system of Menteri Besar was first created soon after the Second World War. Seven Menteris Besar were pre-Merdeka and seven post-Merdeka. The seven pre-Merdeka Menteris Besar were from the civil service while the seven post-Merdeka Menteris Besar were from Umno. And now, the 15th Menteri Besar, is from Pakatan Rakyat, specifically from PKR.

It is probably not a coincidence that the seven pre-Merdeka Menteris Besar from the civil service were Malay gentlemen of good breeding and men of honour and integrity. Malaysians in their 70s or 80s who knew these people would reminisce about how the Malays of those days were a world apart from the Malays of today. 

Then, when we look at the track record of the seven post-Merdeka Menteris Besar, we can only see scoundrels. They were not only men not of good breeding but they were downright slime-balls and scumbags as well. Honour and integrity were not in the vocabulary of these people.

Then along came Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim from the opposition and once again honour and integrity has, to a certain degree, been restored to the office of the Menteri Besar of Selangor. And His Highness the Sultan of Selangor quite likes what he is seeing although it cannot be denied things can be even better if Khalid can rein in those ‘Little Napoleons’ in his administration.

Nevertheless, although things are far from perfect and we could do with a bit more improvements, things are a world apart today than what they were during the administrations of the previous seven post-Merdeka Menteris Besar.

And that was why His Highness the Sultan wanted Khalid to serve a second term in spite of efforts by Anwar Ibrahim and Azmin Ali to oust Khalid in favour of, who else but Azmin, of course.

Azmin wanted to be the Menteri Besar. The whole world knows this, as it was never a secret. Anwar Ibrahim too wanted Azmin. The whole world knows that as well. However, Party President Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and her daughter, Nurul Izzah, wanted Khalid to have his second term, as what His Highness also wanted.

So it was a split between Anwar and Azmin against Anwar’s wife and daughter. In a way it was a stalemate that threatened to end in a crisis. Then His Highness stepped in and threw in his ‘deciding vote’ and Khalid it was. Anwar and Azmin had no choice but to back off or else face the danger of a ‘constitutional crisis’ with the Sultan.

The politicians started a whispering campaign that the Sultan is a mere Constitutional Monarch who has no power to decide on who gets to become Menteri Besar. To demonstrate that he does have the power to decide and is not a mere rubber-stamp monarch, His Highness not only put his foot down and insisted on Khalid, he also removed from the list the names of those who have ‘problems’. And with that we saw the exit of Ronnie Liu and Dr Xavier Jayakumar.

Ronnie was implicated in non-kosher dealings with the Chinese underworld while Dr Xavier was leading the charge against Khalid and was basically Azmin’s assassin. So His Highness showed who was the bigger gangster and assassin. He cut off the heads of both Ronnie and Dr Xavier. (Ronnie was, in fact, not given a seat to contest the elections).

Some Chinese and Indians threatened to ‘take to the streets’ to argue their case in support of Ronnie and Dr Xavier. All His Highness had to do was to unsheath his keris and kiss it and all these people backed down. You do not take on the Sultan of Selangor or threaten him with ‘street action’ and hope to win the staring match. His Highness will never blink first in such a contest. Trust me on that one because I know my beloved cousin better than you ever will.

You are now dealing with a different bunch of Monarchs. These are not the Monarchs of the 1980s whom Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad took on. The Monarchs of those days were the fathers of today’s Monarchs. Today’s Monarchs are no pushovers. They are educated and intelligent, and are not scared of a fight.

Do you know that if the Sultan commands me to return to Malaysia the government cannot do a thing to prevent me from returning to Malaysia? The AG and the IGP, or even the Prime Minister himself, can argue this, that and the other till the cows come home as to why I should not be allowed to return to Malaysia -- and that if I do then the government will be compelled to take action against me and arrest me.

However, all the Sultan has to do is say ‘be’ and so shall it be. Do I make the Sultan sound like God? No, the Sultan is not God but he certainly is ‘second-in-command’ of sorts. The Sultan is, after all, head of Islam in Selangor and back in the old days in England that would make him God’s representative on earth.

Anyway, His Highness the Sultan has not commanded me to return to Malaysia although he did send me a ‘signal’ that I have sufficiently ‘served my sentence’ of more than four years ‘exile’. Hence I can now be ‘rehabilitated’ back into society.

However, there would be a price to pay. And that price would be I would have to 'retire from politics' and adopt a non-partisan stance. And that would involve the closing down of Malaysia Today.

I am not yet prepared to pay that price so I will in the meantime remain where I am, in Manchester. I may be 62 but I think that is not yet old enough to stop playing Blogger and become a courtier -- as much as being an‘orang istana’ may sound exciting to some.

Whether Pakatan Rakyat can retain Selangor in the next general election and whether Khalid will get to serve a third term is yet to be seen. Khalid himself may feel that two terms in enough. After all, by 2018, when the next GE is expected, Khalid will be 72 and that would be a good age to retire and spend some time with the grandchildren before you leave this world.

Anyway, whatever it may be, Khalid is not PKR’s Menteri Besar. He is not even Pakatan Rakyat’s Menteri Besar. He is His Highness the Sultan’s Menteri Besar, and which would make him my Menteri Besar as well.

So you had better not forget that and try to mess with Khalid.