king and kingmakers

Still on the subject of political impasse in Perak, I came across a posting by Kenny Gan in the Malaysiakini. He opined that final judgement will have a very significant impact to the future of politics in Malaysia. He concluded that UMNO in future will use Sultans and The Agong to remove heads of states and possibly Prime Minister without going through legislative assembly. Kings will then be real kingmakers. As much as this may benefit UMNO, what if the opposition (or anyone for that matter; or UMNO’s favourite demon the “foreigners” the term mostly associated with their enemies) befriends the kings to the level that they work hand in gloves to remove PM? Will UMNO gladly accept this?

I would love to see the above scenario happening in future but I know this is not right. If we are seriously considering moving towards civil society, we must uphold rule of law and separation of powers. We cannot make short term gain but lose long term objective of creating a civil society. But then again why don’t we get the king to send these bastards to hell and set about correcting what is wrong later on? Tempting indeed!

A short posting today but read the piece below extracted from “Return of the Kings” in Malaysiakini!

Kenny Gan: The importance of the Nizar vs Zambry court case goes far beyond Perak and Umno's bid to hold on to its power grab in the state.

The matter of contention here is whether Nizar was rightfully deprived of his post by the sultan and Zambry legally appointed.

No doubt this case will be appealed up to the Federal Court. If the final judgment favours Zambry then Malaysia has crossed a legal and constitutional rubicon which throws into doubt the concept of constitutional monarchy in the country.

It means that the Agong and the sultans are given the power to dismiss the prime minister or chief ministers without going through parliament or assembly proceedings but by merely professing their opinion that the incumbent has lost the confidence of the majority.

As this alleged loss of confidence is not put to the test in the House, there is no way to dispute the opinion of His Majesty.

Hence by implication, the PM and chief ministers hold their office at the pleasure of the royalty or state governors.

Will we then cross the line between constitutional monarchy and absolute monarchy? This court case must be allowed to proceed without interference from the executive.

Trying to influence a favourable decision got Zambry for the sake of holding on to power in Perak is shortsighted as such power accorded to the royalty may be used against Umno in the future.