This is both interesting and disturbing.
The Raja of Perlis, despite the fact that Pak Lah has agreed in written approval that Shahidan Kassim should be the MB of Perlis, has now chosen another YB by the name of Datuk Dr Md Isa Sabu who is a virtually unknown YB outside Perlis.
According to my probably unreliable but testes sources, Shahidan Kassim has been virtually camping outside the Prime Ministers Office for the past 2 3 days trying to convince Pak Lah that Shahidan has received the mandate of BN Perlis. He has also performed well by retaining all the BN seats in Perlis as the Pengerusi BN Perlis, and it is only right that Pak Lah reward him by retaining him as MB of Perlis.
Of course, there is the coalition of Azmi Khalid, Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, and Dato Seri Raja Jamalullail who is in one camp in protest of Shahidan being retained as the MB. Radzi is the sec gen of UMNO, and is using as much as possible of his supposedly close relationship with PM, ever since pre election nomination days to make sure that Shahidan does not survive as MB.
Both Shahidan and Radzi had a very public spat during the run up to the last election.
What had happened today was:
As Pak Lah announced in Putrajaya that he has appointed Shahidan as the MB of Perlis, in Kangar Perlis, the private secretary to the Raja of Perlis made a press statement proclaiming that the Raja of Perlis, under the powers in the state constitution bestowed upon him, has the final prerogative in the appointment of the MB.
Going against the decision of the PM (or maybe he may not even know that PM has agreed on Shahidan because both events happened at two places in the same space of time) the Raja of Perlis appointed YB Md Isa Sabu. Shahidan Kassim, in response has cried fouled over this appointment and says that he has 120 days to sort this out.
Now, in my opinion, this is a huge mess. EVEN if the Raja of Perlis retracts (which i doubt) i do not think that Shahidan would be have a cordial relationship with the Raja.
This is going to be very interesting as well because constitutionally, the role of the monarch is merely as the symbol of democracy.But then again, these days in Malaysia, anything is possible in out politics.
The other constitutional crisis is happening in Terengganu.
apparently the sultan of terengganu ( the current YDP Agong) does not like the choice of Pak Lah, ie the current incumbent MB Dato Seri Idris Jusoh.
today the sultan through the majlis pemangku raja terengganu has called a meeting of all the ADUN's of terengganu to putrajaya, presumably to choose the MB of Terengganu.
and in perak, they have yet to solemnize the supposedly agreed MB.
has all this happened before in Malaysia?
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actually, according to the state constitution of perlis (and perak, selangor, terengganu, etc.) the sultan has the prerogative of appointing the mentri besar based on who has the confidence of the majority of the assembly - i.e. the ADUN. this is so that a person who is not supported by the majority of the ADUN is not arbitrarily imposed on the state by anyone. therefore, the reason why raja perlis did not appoint shahidan must be related to him not commanding the confidence of the majority. in this case, the majority of ADUN is mostly UMNO themselves, hence it is only opposition from UMNO that enables the raja to exercise his constitutional rights. the same goes for terengganu. and also perak where the sultan basically asked the majority party to affirm that they each profess confidence in nizar jamaluddin.
i think it is very straightforward. malaysia is, after all, a federation of states, and ultimately the sultan has to take steps to ensure that his own court is able to function. technically the states are supposed to have some autonomy - and it is only right that the federal government be prevented from imposing candidates on the state who are not supported by the state's own exco - how will the state governance function, if no one will obey the MB? although the sultans do not actually have much power left, they still have some, and this is one of them.
ultimately the sultan is the protector of the rakyat of his own state first and foremost, and while in most situations this is a ceremonial role, in rare situations it is a real one. i think because of BN's dominance so far, Malaysia has been run as though it is one state for the most part. now Malaysia as a real federation will be tested out!
-Kirana
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