ANWAR VERSUS HRH?

Umar Mukhtar

Tomorrow is D-day, the day when Selangorians will see if their constitutional monarch will accept PKR’s and DAP’s contention that a constitutional monarch is merely a ceremonial rubber-stamp figurehead.

By refusing to comply to HRH’s instructions that these parties should submit more than two candidates for the position of Menteri Besar, these parties are forcing HRH’s hand to appoint their only nominee to be Menteri Besar.

It is almost as if the State Constitution says that as long as the parties feel that its nominee enjoys the support of the State Assembly, the Sultan must appoint that person the Menteri Besar. Why didn’t our Constitution drafters do that? These parties based their stand that in a democracy, the people’s wishes prevail over that of HRH.

One wonders why the provision on this matter in the Constitution is not written just like that! These know-alls are smarter? Especially when they were not there when Merdeka was negotiated. To them, HRH has no discretion. He is a royal rubber-stamp for decorative purposes.

Such people do not have a deep appreciation of what a constitution is about, how it comes about, why it is there and if in fact HRH is an integral part of the Constitution.

Essentially, every constitution has an above-it-all element that presides over a potentially divisive situation. That position must necessarily enjoy a certain amount of discretionary powers. That discretion is absolute because the subject matter he presides over has many conditions.

For example, he must appoint a member of the State Assembly who is  a Malay, etc. That member of the Assembly is elected by the people! Furthermore, he must enjoy the confidence of a majority of the members of the Assembly. If HRH chooses someone who does not enjoy that, that person can be pushed out by a vote of no-confidence by the majority of the assembly men who are elected by the people! The people prevails in a constitutional monarchy. Theoretically, this can go on ad infinitum.

The catch is that it is not as easy as it seems. HRH, through such a provision, has the necessary powers to, at the very least, temper the situation, right up to throwing a spanner in the works if he feels the situation calls for it. That discretion is his and his alone!

DAP and PKR and Khalid Samad contend that an arrangement like that can allow the people’s wishes to be frustrated by HRH’s personal biases.

So this is meant to be a test-case of whether we need someone to preside over such a process, as fronted by Anwar Ibrahim and and cheered on enthusiastically by the Chinese of DAP whose dissatisfactions with the Constitution are endless. The Malays are looking on this case to evaluate how vulnerable is the Constitution which they agreed to when they accepted the non-Malay migrants to be fellow citizens

The pertinent points to ponder by cool heads are, would the Malays agree to the Constitution if it I was for a republic or if their special privileges were not recognized and substantiated, or their religion andLingua Franca did not enjoy a special position and if their beloved Raja-raja Melayu would be just be in charge of Malay customs and most of all, glorified rubber-stamps? Read up and see what drafter were dealing with. See how much their beloved HRHs’ consent meant to the Malays. They, too, fight for the Merdeka you are enjoying now.

Of course, if we are to listen to Rafizi, if we don’t like our leaders we should leave!

Think hard and think softly.  Loud, vociferous, ignorant and irresponsible screamings whether on the streets or in the social media can be a two-way street. A dead-end street that ends in unthinkable gutters.

In beloved Singapore, the ruling government chosen by the people, cannot touch the billions of Dollars of state surplus without having to deal with and going through the absolute discretion of the President. Another human with so-called biases as our monarchs.

No sir, it’s called checks and balances, just like how much kicap you put in your kwey-tiaw.

So our way could very well be a way to keep the 3 billon Ringgit state surplus safe from the grubby hands of a jailbird whose nominated wife has been doing his bidding all her life!