The 'Santai Teh Tarik' session with four crown princes that was due to take place in Malacca tomorrow was their own initiative, and had nothing to do with Umno supreme council member Lokman Noor Adam, according to a source.
As the source told Malaysiakini, the event was also unrelated to the ongoing debate on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and a rally against the treaty next Saturday.
As such, the source claimed, the crown princes were upset when Lokman purportedly linked both when he announced the 'Santai Teh Tarik' session.
"This programme was organised with a good intention, which is to bring the four princes to mix with the people.
"But Lokman is not the organiser. It never was Lokman. He only happened to know about this programme," the source said.
"It was supposed to be an interesting event hosted by the four princes where the people get to mingle with them. But I don't know how it reached Lokman's ears.
"But if you see from his (Lokman's) messages, he tried to link this event with another event on May 4, when it is totally unrelated."
On Saturday, Lokman (photo) sent out a WhatsApp message to the media which contained a poster for the 'Santai Teh Tarik' event.
The poster read: "Everyone is invited to a tea time session with the Johor crown prince, Pahang crown prince, Selangor raja muda and another crown prince or raja muda. If you want to know who is the fourth prince, come to the event, ok! We'll take selfies with them."
In a statement later, Lokman said: "I will be attending the teh tarik session and I will also attend the 'Mega rally against the Rome Statute: In defence of parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy' gathering at Dataran Merdeka at 2pm (next) Saturday."
An hour after issuing the statement, however, Lokman sent out another information blast on WhatsApp, stating that the event may not happen due to several "phonecalls."
Today, the office of Tengku Amir Shah distanced him from the 'Santai Teh Tarik event.'
The source, who is close to a crown prince from a southern state, also told Malaysiakini that the attempt to link the crown princes to the anti-Rome Statute rally had also upset their royal families.
"What upset the four princes, and of course the royal families, is the association between these two events.
"The way Lokman wrote it was as if the princes endorsed the rally, or were the organisers.
"We know they (protesters) are having the rally, and it is okay for them to take their own initiative, but it is not proper to put the messages in one WhatsApp message."
Malaysiakini has contacted Lokman for comment.
-Mkini
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