The Final Lap Of The Mahathir-Anwar Power Struggle

Anyway, according to Mahathir, he is Prime Minister because of DAP, which is what I wrote three years ago and which many poohpoohed as fiction. So, if DAP wants Anwar to replace him, can Mahathir stop that from happening? I suppose he can if Umno, PAS and those MPs from Sabah and Sarawak are with him to give him those 112 votes.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

It is so satisfying when I write about a certain matter and some people call them ‘grandmother stories’ and later what I write is proven true, even if it is ten years down the road.

I wrote some years ago about the First Agong, Tuanku Abdul Rahman (who Jalan TAR is named after), and the First Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Malaya’s First Agong, said the Prime Minister can sack the Agong but the Agong cannot sack the Prime Minister

A British Cabinet Minister tried to meet the Tunku without any prior appointment but could not. This Mat Salleh thought since Malaya used to be a British colony he could just walk in and the Prime Minister would jump to attention.

Later the Mat Salleh met the Agong and complained about the Tunku. He suggested that the Agong sack the Tunku for his ‘crime’.

The Agong replied that according to Malaysia’s constitutional monarchy system, the Prime Minister can sack the Agong but the Agong cannot sack the Prime Minister.

The Tunku, too, sometimes had problems with the Istana but he always settled matters diplomatically behind closed doors and never publicly humiliated the Rulers

Yes, that was back in the late 1950s when Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad, the Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan, was the First Yang Di-Pertuan Agong of Persekutuan Tanah Melayu.

In April 1960, Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah of Selangor, took over as Malaya’s Second Agong. I was only ten years old then when I was already running around Istana Negara playing hide-and-seek (couldn’t help boasting about that to show I was an Istana Negara ‘insider’ at only ten).

Anyway, the point to this whole story is there are moves to influence who should become the next Agong. These people think if they can ‘control’ the Agong then they can determine who becomes the next Prime Minister — and when that date shall be.

Let me, yet again, enlighten you on this matter. According to the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, the Agong shall appoint a Member of the House as Prime Minister who in His Majesty’s judgment commands the confidence of the Majority Members of the House. In simple Chinlish, this means the person who has at least 112 MPs in his pocket.

Got that?

Does anyone else have more MPS in his or her pocket other than Mahathir?

So, who has at least 112 MPs in his or her pocket? Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad? Anwar Ibrahim? Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail? Najib Tun Razak? Ahmad Zahid Hamidi? Muhyiddin Yassin? Mukhriz Mahathir? Mohamad Hasan? Lim Kit Siang? Mat Sabu? Abdul Hadi Awang? Ambiga Sreenevasan? Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy?

Yes, that person who has 112 MPs in his or her pocket will have to be appointed the Prime Minister. The Agong cannot bypass this. Mahathir cannot bypass this even if he is dying to appoint Anwar the next Prime Minister.

Anyway, according to Mahathir, he is Prime Minister because of DAP, which is what I wrote three years ago and which many poohpoohed as fiction. So, if DAP wants Anwar to replace him, can Mahathir stop that from happening? I suppose he can if Umno, PAS and those MPs from Sabah and Sarawak are with him to give him those 112 votes.

Do you get it now?