Malaysia Is Now Seeing A Third Constitutional Crisis

 

In such an argument, there can be only one winner. Either the Prime Minister will win, or the Agong will win. And the outcome for the loser is going to be bad. Umno, in its euphoria to oust Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin so that Anwar Ibrahim can take over, has triggered a Third Constitutional Crisis. And it is either going to be third time lucky or third time and you go down for good.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The First and Second Constitutional Crises were in the early 1980s and early 1990s. There were no internet or smart phones yet at that time, so most of the information was obtained from Umno’s TV3 and the government-controlled mainstream media.

What Malaysians were told, based on the narrative written by the Prime Minister’s Department or PMO, was that the Raja-Raja Melayu are scoundrels, thieves, and murderers. They abuse their power and authority, waste taxpayers’ money with their lavish lifestyle and excessive spending, gamble and womanise, and act extremely un-Islamic and unbecoming for the head of Islam.

The Sultan of Johor murders people, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad told Umno. The Sultan of Kelantan is a smuggler, Anwar told TV3 and RTM. The Sultans of Pahang and Terengganu steal logging concessions owned by the state and pass them to their Chinese cronies (“Tengku” Wong and “Tengku” Yong respectively), said Gerakan’s Lim Keng Yaik.

Shots of lavish bungalows in Penang owned by Chinese millionaires were shown on TV and the news reader said these multi-million ringgit homes are owned by the Sultan of Selangor. Stories were spread about the booze and sex parties and huge gambling debts in London casinos incurred by the Raja-Raja Melayu and their princelings.

This is the Third Constitutional Crisis since the 1980s and 1990s

The outrage and hatred against the Raja-Raja Melayu was so intense that there was talk Malaysia should abolish the monarchy and be turned into a republic. This forced Deputy Prime Minister Tun Ghafar Baba to issue a statement in Parliament that it is okay to attack the Raja-Raja Melayu for their misconduct, transgressions and crimes, but there must be no talk about abolishing the monarchy to turn Malaysia into a republic, because that would be a crime under the Sedition Act.

The fight between Umno and the Raja-Raja Melayu almost became like the English Civil War of 1642-1651. The rakyat were encouraged to speak out in what used to be a taboo subject. Even the Chinese and Indians no longer feared to attack the Raja-Raja Melayu like in the past.

Those were exciting times. People forgot about the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Tun Musa Hitam. They forgot about Umno’s Team A-Team B civil war that destroyed the party. They forgot about the recession and how difficult the rakyat’s lives had become. They forgot about Umno being wound up by the court so that Dr Mahathir could be saved. They forgot about the RM31.5 billion Bank Negara Forex disaster. And so on.

It was a good distraction, and everyone focused on the Malaysian Civil War and the two Constitutional Crises in the early 1980s and early 1990s. Malaysians cheered and applauded Dr Mahathir and called him a brave republican who defanged the Raja-Raja Melayu and cut them down to size. It was the best of times and the worst of times. In the end, though, the rakyat (meaning Umno) won and the Raja-Raja Melayu lost and were told to shut the fook up and never open their mouths again.

The Raja-Raja Melayu are divided between the Muhyiddin faction and the Anwar faction

But all that happened during the time of the fathers or grandfathers of the current crop of Raja-Raja Melayu. The Raja-Raja Melayu today were still young and not yet on the throne at that time. It is a different generation of Raja-Raja Melayu from that of the 1980s and 1990s.

Now, Malaysia is seeing the Third Constitutional Crisis. And Umno is behind this Third Constitutional Crisis as well, just like it was behind the first two. This Third Constitutional Crisis is causing a split amongst the Conference of Rulers. It seems the Raja-Raja Melayu are now divided between the pro-Muhyiddin Yassin faction and the pro-Anwar Ibrahim faction.

The Chinese and Indians would be well-advised to keep quiet and say nothing. This is a fight between two groups of Malays and the Chinese and Indians should not get involved lest they become the victims of Malay anger like back in May 1969 when Umno had an internal war to oust the Prime Minister.

The ongoing debate is whether the dog wags the tail, or the tail wags the dog. Must the Prime Minister listen to His Majesty the Agong or must His Majesty the Agong listen to the Prime Minister? Who is the boss, the Agong or the PM?

In such an argument, there can be only one winner. Either the Prime Minister will win, or the Agong will win. And the outcome for the loser is going to be bad. Umno, in its euphoria to oust Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin so that Anwar Ibrahim can take over, has triggered a Third Constitutional Crisis. And it is either going to be third time lucky or third time and you go down for good.