Parts of King's speech could only come from palace, says KJ

Despite the ruling government’s role in drafting the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s parliamentary address, Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said parts of the royal address could have only come from the palace itself.

Khairy (above) said this after finding his tweets on the matter in 2017 being shared today, in the wake of this morning’s one-day parliamentary session.

“I noticed some are retweeting an old post of mine.

“While it still stands, I think due to the extraordinary circumstances of the last few months, there were parts of today’s royal address that could have only come from the palace, eg the Agong asking former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to consider resigning,” he said.

He was referring to his tweet on March 6, 2017, where he said the King’s speech is drafted by the government since Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy.

“The monarch doesn’t exercise personal power in government,” he said at the time.

This morning, Parliament controversially convened to hear Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah's royal address and then adjourned without any discussion or debate.

In his speech, the ruler said he had tried to convince Mahathir not to resign, but to no avail, and he later determined that Pagoh MP Muhyiddin Yassin commanded the majority in the Dewan Rakyat.

He also warned lawmakers not to drag the country into another political crisis, and not to touch on racial and religious sensitivities – to which government MPs thumped their desks in agreement. - Mkini