Perak – the epicentre of Umno fault-line
Lim Kit Siang
(This article was written in anticipation of the Court of Appeal judgment in Nizar vs Zambry)
The judgment of Justice Abdul Aziz Abd. Rahim in the case of Nizar vs Zambry has attained clairvoyance status.
It had positioned the institution of rulers above politics, dignified the sultans and preserved the revered constitutional monarchy for generations to come.
In the ancient times the announcement of gestation or birth of crown prince will usually send sages and spiritual leaders into solitude in meditation and prayers in the harsh wilderness with the hope that the ruler to come will be benevolent to the subjects. History bears testimony of such adoration with monuments and poems of virtues and valour of such kings.
Today more than a billion souls, Hindus, Christians and Muslims all in India salute the great emperor Asoka knowingly or unknowingly when they rise in veneration of the majestic Indian national flag, the centre of it bears the wheel of Asoka.
But not all Rulers invite admiration. Scorn and disdain of the people witnessed the extinction of absolute monarchy in many parts of the world and replaced with power to the people by new systems of constitutional monarchy or an outright republic of a nation.
Power is placed in the hands of people’s representatives but authority is given not to deny the will and wishes of the people.
But the hearts of men are so easily corrupted.
