ISTANA Negara’s bland statement on Sunday announcing the sudden resignation of Sultan Muhammad V as Yang di-Pertuan Agong was an insult to all Malaysians. It left many difficult and important questions unanswered.
Foremost is this: if he feels so undeserving of continuing on as Agong, should he also not feel the same way about being the sultan of Kelantan? The people of that state deserve to expect from their sultan the same standards that Malaysians have of their Agong.
Only two months earlier on November 2, the Agong had taken a two-month leave of absence for “medical reasons”. That ended on December 31, with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad blandly asserting and assuming that Sultan Muhammad had resumed his duties as Agong.
Meanwhile, during the Agong’s absence, pictures of his purported wedding to a former Russian beauty queen half his age appeared on social media. Again, no comments, official or otherwise, came from the palace or government.
Pictures then appeared in a British publication of his “bride” in her previous incarnation cavorting in a pool, champagne in hand, with an unidentified male who was definitely not the Agong. Sexual escapades of pageant contestants are not news. That a Malay royal would in any way be linked to such characters does not surprise me either. Malay sultans have been known to be fond of foreign dancers and waitresses.
What surprised me was the silence of the palace to these posts that were salacious, bordering on the pornographic. Even Dr Mahathir admitted to being kept in the dark. What a way to run the country!
Things quickly became murkier. On Wednesday, January 2, presumably the day after the Agong had resumed his duties and only a few days prior to the resignation announcement, there was an unprecedented and unscheduled meeting of the Council of Rulers without the Agong being invited. Again, there was a news blackout on that.
It did not escape notice that the four governors, constitutionally on par with the sultans, were excluded. Ever wonder why East Malaysians clamour for withdrawal from the federation?
Then on the first Friday of the New Year, pictures of the Agong attending a congregational prayer in Kelantan, his home state, appeared in the local media. His trademark pretentious piety was in full display, complete with his modest jubbah and lebai white cap, shaking hands with his fellow congregants in exaggerated humility.
In his sermon, the imam reportedly told the congregation not to believe in rumours, presumably referring to the now widespread speculation on the Agong’s extracurricular activities. I wonder how that imam felt after the resignation announcement!
Sultans, and the Agong in particular, must realise that they are on the government payroll, and a very generous one at that, and are provided ample allowances and grandiose palaces. The Agong’s latest billion-dollar and obscenely ostentatious one sits on a commanding hill, visible from all the high-rises of Kuala Lumpur.
These sultans thus owe some accountability to their paymaster, the citizens.
Palace officials too must realise that they are also being paid by taxpayers. Like the Agong, these officials are answerable to the people of Malaysia. Issuing bland, meaningless statements that do not clarify matters is an insult to their paymaster. The keeper of the royal seal should not underestimate the intelligence of modern Malaysians. They are not the peasants of yore.
The erratic behaviour of this particular Agong does not surprise me. A few years ago, there was the embarrassing spectacle of his removing his father from the state throne, again purportedly over some medical issues. His father’s medical report was never released. The people of Kelantan were denied access to the truth.
More recent and most disturbing was the Agong’s behaviour during the immediate post-election crisis of last May when he conveniently found himself AWOL abroad. He had to be summoned back to swear in the new prime minister.
Someone must have taught this Agong an old and well-rehearsed kampung trick – cloak yourself in religious garb, complete with a huge turban and overflowing white robe, and learn to recite some long incomprehensible ancient Arabic incantations, and you could literally get away with murder.
The history, recent and ancient, of Malay sultans is replete with such horrors. Nor have their performances as leaders been illustrious. Back in 1946 they were for the Malayan Union. A decade later they were against independence!
This reprehensible pattern must not be allowed to continue. Malaysians are owed a full explanation of the Agong’s resignation. Malaysians, and Malays in particular, must demand a higher standard from their leaders – hereditary as well as political and religious. Anything less would not do.
WRITER: M. Bakri Musa
-The Malaysian Insight.
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