In Malaysia, the sultans have the authority

 

From Murray Hunter

Nothing is straightforward in Malaysia. Last Saturday, Barisan Nasional (BN), led by Umno won a resounding state elections victory in Johor, only to find that their chosen menteri besar candidate, Hasni Mohammad, was overlooked by the Johor palace and instead Onn Hafiz Ghazi took office.

This is not the first time political party nominees for the position of chief minister have been knocked back by their respective state palaces. Back in Terengganu, in 2008, there was a political impasse when the Sultan insisted Ahmad Said be chief minister over Umno’s choice, Idris Jusoh.

In 2009, the Raja of Perlis refused to swear in Shahidan Kassim as chief minister and swore in Md Isa Sabu instead.

In Selangor, in 2014, in what was called the Kajang Move, the Sultan refused to appoint then opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as chief minister, picking Azmin Ali, even though he didn’t have apparent support from the majority of assembly members.

In 2018, the Raja of Perlis swore in Azlan Man as chief minister, even though the ceremony was boycotted by assembly members who supported their candidate, Ismail Kassim, brother of Shahidan Kassim.

There is a degree of absolute power in the hands of the monarchs that doesn’t devolve to other constitutional monarchies. According to state constitutions, the Sultan or Raja in the case of Perlis, and Yang Di-Pertuan Agong (YDPA) federally, can appoint “who they believe to have the support of the majority of members” of the assembly.

Many implications

There are a number of implications on what happened over the last few days in Johor.

The first issue is sovereignty, over who has the power to select any chief minister. As historical precedent has shown on a number of occasions, it’s not a mandate by the people, or a nominee by the largest political party or coalition occupying the largest number of seats in the lower house that counts. It’s the selection made by the Sultan, Raja or YDPA.

This has been in all constitutions. Law and convention have supported this. This is one of the aspects of the Malaysian democratic system that makes it unique and, historically, this connects the sultans with the absolute power they once had to make any selection of their chief minister.

Just because the sultans, raja or the YDPA don’t always utilise this privilege doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

However, the use of this privilege in selecting the chief minister early this week by Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar has deep implications on the contemporary political scene. The Sultan’s decision effectively checked the power of Umno, and its formal leadership, making what would have been an ecstatic celebration of victory on the floor of the Umno General Assembly at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) this week, to something much more subdued.

This checks the current Umno leadership, controlled by Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as president and his convicted cohort, Najib Razak. At least from Johor, there is a message of displeasure with the resurgence of this group openly within the public domain. This is a counter to the growing phenomena of “Bossku” from the south of the peninsula, at least.

The Umno leadership’s choice for chief minister, Hasni, with a track record of experience, was discarded in favour of Onn Hafiz, who has a deep Johor pedigree.

Onn Hafiz is the great-great-grandson of the first chief minister of Johor, Jaafar Muhammad, and great-grandson of the founder of Umno, Onn Jaafar and grandson of former prime minister of Malaysia, Hussein Onn.

Maybe, more importantly, Onn Hafiz is a nephew of current defence minister and supporter of current prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Hishammuddin Hussein, who regularly carries counsel within the palace.

This is as much support you would overtly see for the current prime minister over the so-called court cluster within Umno by a royal household.

Nobody, except for those with close council knows the exact reasons for his choice. We can only surmise some of the palace sentiments from past public statements over the years.

This hints that the Johor monarchy are very concerned about the agenda politicians have mapped out for Johor. It’s no secret the Johor sultan has strong views about governance, economic development, education, health and religious extremism.

The action also signals concern over the political instability within the country at present, and corresponding agendas behind this. There is a strong sentiment against control from Putrajaya and national Umno, as there is a belief this is not always in Johor’s best interests as a state.

The Conference of Rulers have also managed to wrest control of the Islamic Development Department (Jakim), at a time when the federal government is weak. Jakim has for years encroached upon state powers over Islam, which has irked the royal households.

The Keeper of the Royal Seal also announced the Sultan of Selangor, Sharafuddin Idris Shah, would take the position of chairman of the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs Malaysia (MKI) on a two-year rotational basis with other monarchs.

On more than one occasion, the King, Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah, has formally requested politicians publicly to stop bickering and focus on governance. This has gone unheeded.

So, it can be expected that the Conference of Rulers will use their position to the maximum in future to try and steer the nation’s governance in a direction they see as best for the nation.

What happened in Johor can be seen in two ways. Many Malaysians are outraged that the Johor sultan took it upon himself to swear in his own selection for chief minister. There is anger calling this nepotism and undemocratic.

However, on the flip side of this, the Sultan is acting according to the constitution in the appointment he made. It can be argued that the Sultan is the last check and balance in the Malaysian democratic system.

The effect of his decision is to cast displeasure over the growing influence of Umno’s court cluster and cast support behind Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s premiership of the nation, in an effort to maintain political stability.

One can expect a covert social media campaign to discredit some royal households over the next few months. We can only guess from what quarters these attacks will come.

Some will cry that this is a palace coup, while others may see that the Sultan has acted with a wisdom that is potentially beneficial to the democratic process of the nation. - FMT

Murray Hunter is an independent researcher and former professor with the Prince of Songkhla University and Universiti Malaysia Perlis.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.