HAVE THE RULERS CORNERED MAHATHIR – OR HAS HE OUTSMARTED THEM YET AGAIN?

Mahathir is on a mission impossible to reform the country’s 61 years of tyrannical rule under previous Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition government. Even if it’s true that he is trying to correct his 21 years of iron-fist rule, to reform the system within 2 years is next to impossible. But the 93-year-old man has very little time to spare, considering his advanced age.

Not everyone is impressed with the new government though. Even foreigners can’t accept the fact that Malaysia is probably moving towards becoming the Norway of Asia – giving rival neighbour Singapore a run for its money. As component parties within BN are engaged in dog-bite-dog drama, while licking their wounds, a crisis appears to have exploded.

Apandi Ali, an extremely tainted Attorney General appointed by ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak, has refused to resign with dignity. Mr. Ali has been under the illusion that he’s still untouchable, and can only be removed through a tribunal. Without a functioning Attorney General Chambers, the new government is facing many legal issues, including prosecuting Najib.

Now, the King and other Malay rulers have shown their real agenda. Apparently, “Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V (the King)”, has sparked a major disagreement with PM Mahathir Mohamad, who proposed to appoint senior lawyer Tommy Thomas as the new Attorney General. The King’s refusal was largely due to the fact that Thomas isn’t a Malay-Muslim.

Heck, not only Tommy Thomas isn’t a Malay-Muslim but an ethnic-Indian, he is also a Christian. However, after Mr. Thomas received massive support from Malaysians, especially the netizens, as well as coalition’s leaders, there has been a new twist to the story from the palace. The King now argues that he wants somebody who has been a judge or even a retired judge.

The palace argues that the King isn’t a racist considering he accepted DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, an ethnic-Chinese, as the Finance Minister. The King wants an Attorney General who is able to advise him on Syariah matters too. Mahathir, however, countered that the Solicitor General can handle that job but the King insisted the A.G. should be the one advising him.

Without the King realizing it, he was caught shooting his own foot as he tries very hard to justify that he wasn’t a racist and certainly not a religious bigot. How can he claim not being a racist when he insisted the A.G. must be able to advise him on Syariah matters? How can a non-Muslim attorney general advise him on the Islamic matters is beyond comprehension. There’s no such thing as half-pregnant.

The Federal Constitution doesn’t prohibit a non-Malay or a non-Muslim to be appointed as the Attorney General. It’s only by tradition that the previous BN government had practiced the racist policy – appointing only a Malay-Muslim as Attorney General. Syahredzan Johan, a constitutional lawyer, said the King and the Council of Rulers have no constitutional basis to interfere in the appointment.

Syahredzan said – “The King does not have the discretion to choose the Attorney-General. He must do so at the advice of the prime minister. The Council of Rulers have an even lesser role. The King does not need to consult the Council of Rulers. The only requirement is that the person must be qualified to be a Federal Court judge.”

 

Article 145(1) of the Federal Constitution states that “the YDPA shall, on the advice of the Prime Minister, appoint a person who is qualified to be a judge of the Federal Court to be the Attorney General for the Federation”. Article 40(1A) of the Federal Constitution states that the YDPA in such circumstances must accept and act in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister.

Truthfully, when ex-PM Najib Razak sacked former A.G. Gani Patail in July 2015 as he was finishing the charge paper to prosecute the prime minister, and subsequently the appointment of friendly-Apandi Ali as the new Attorney General, the then-Agong (King) obediently consented. So why wasn’t there a problem during Najib regime but is a major problem with Mahathir administration?

If you care to study the body language of Sultan Muhammad V (the King) during the swearing in of Mahathir Mohamad as the Malaysia’s 7th Prime Minister on May 10th, obviously the Agong wasn’t happy with the ceremony. Like his good buddy Najib Razak, the Sultan of Kelantan was equally shocked with the stunning victory of the Pakatan Harapan coalition.

Now that the new government wants to sack Apandi Ali and appoint Tommy Thomas, the monarchy appears to be interfering with the running of the government. He has forgotten that Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy, not absolute monarchy. More importantly, agreeing to a no-nonsense A.G. means even the monarchy will be subjected to the rule of law, which could jeopardise sultans’ interest.

But the biggest question here is not Sultan Muhammad V of Kelantan, as the Agong, playing politics to undermine Mahathir administration. The biggest question here is – had not Mahathir anticipated such rejection from the monarchy in the first place? As we had written previously, the monarchies should be careful what they wish for. Mahathir wasn’t born yesterday.

It looks like with the exception of the Sultanate of Johor, the rest of the monarchies had forgotten how Mahathir stripped the once powerful but arrogant sultanates of their immunity. And for a country with only 32-million populations, Malaysia has a jaw-dropping nine (9) monarchies. And if you add in the Agong, who is elected every 5 years among themselves, there are 10 monarchies.

So, did the old but cunning Mahathir deliberately throw a cat among the pigeons? Now that the palace said the King doesn’t care whether the Attorney General is an Indian, Chinese or Malay, what will happen if Mahathir presents the following 4 names as demanded by the King – Gopal Sri Ram, Tommy Thomas, Ambiga Sreenevasan and Ramkarpal Singh?

Will the King choose Gopal Sri Ram as he fits the bill the most or none at all because all of them are not Muslims? Can you see how the King will be humiliated as Mahathir hangs him out to dry? At the end of the day, Mahathir is telling the people hungry for reforms and angry for blood that it isn’t his faultthat Najib cannot be prosecuted or reforms cannot take place.

Mahathir is giving the monarchies enough rope to hang themselves when they choose to play politics. The monarchies will be seen as protecting crooks Najib and Rosmah. The monarchies will be seen as preventing a clean judiciary. The monarchies will be seen as practicing racism. The monarchies will be seen as worshipping a corrupt system. The monarchies will be seen as irrelevant and a wastage.

After all, the people have been told horror stories by newly appointed MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) Chief Commissioner Mohd Shukri Abdull – that the commission have met with the Conference of Rulers twice to assist on the progress of the investigation of 1MDB scandal but were left “disappointed” – because the monarchies had chosen to turn a blind eye.

People are flabbergasted why the King refuses to appoint a clean candidate as the A.G. People are asking – what is so important about appointing a Malay-Muslim as the country’s top lawyer. Apandi Ali was the best Malay-Muslim A.G. money can buy who was appointed by Najib and endorsed by the Agong (King) and see what had they done to the country.

– Finance Twitter