K-point: Palace’s Codswallop, Sycophants Currying Favour And Bob’s Your Uncle

ARCHIVES 2011

By admin-s On Jan 23, 2011

So that we know that as a result of royal patronage, Khusrin becomes the Selangor State Secretary and Bob’s your uncle. And the Palace is talking codswallop. What was said by the Palace that the appointment of Khusrin was in accordance with the Constitution and conventions of the State is unbelievable.

By NH Chan

Pretender Khusrin? @ selangorkini

Why is the Palace talking codswallop, and who is Bob and the sycophants in the K-point affair?

Sycophants currying favour

Fauvel was the French name for the “centaur” (half-man, half-horse) and to keep on the right side of him sycophants would spend time grooming Fauvel. The art of grooming a horse is called “currying”. Therefore those seeking to keep in the centaur’s good books were once called “currying Fauvel”. Overtime Fauvel became “favour”.

On 7 January 2011, Star reported this at page 2 regarding the appointment of the purported Selangor State Secretary:

“I am saddened and regret that many of my statements have been manipulated by irresponsible quarters which had caused confusion among the people,” said Sultan Sharafuddin.

The Sultan congratulated Mohd Khusrin on his appointment.

“I would like to stress that the appointment is in accordance with the regulations and procedures of the Selangor and Federal constitutions”.

But the real truth is that the supposed appointment of Mohd Khusrin as the State Secretary of Selangor is not “in accordance with the regulations and procedures of the Selangor and Federal constitutions” as claimed by the Sultan. Just because these good Samaritans have criticised the appointment of this person on sound constitutional grounds they have been branded as “irresponsible quarters which had caused confusion among the people”. In case you do not already know, most of these good people are practising and accomplished lawyers. Amidst the confusion of differing views about the constitutional legality of the appointment of Khusrin, these dedicated and generous lawyers took on the onerous duty of giving gratuitous service to society so as to apprise the lay public on the correct law applicable to the appointment of the State Secretary of Selangor. Because they are not sycophants currying favour they should not deserve such a vile rebuke from the Ruler. You can read their well considered articles at LoyarBurok.

Bob’s your uncle

This phrase means something that is resolved in your favour without much effort as in, “just send the form in and Bob’s your uncle”. Its real origin comes from the promotion in 1886 of Arthur James Balfour to Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. When it became known he was the nephew of Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, the joke circulated that if Robert was your uncle, the deed or deal is as good as done.

On 5 January 2011, theSun in its front-page report carried this:

Royal consent given

PETALING JAYA: Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah consented to the appointment of Datuk Mohd Khusrin Munawi as Selangor state secretary as it was in accordance with the constitution and conventions of the state.

Brass tacks

Getting down to brass tacks means that we can now get to the heart of the matter. The term is cockney rhyming slang, in which “facts” are dubbed as “brass tacks”.

When it comes to getting down to brass tacks the facts are staring us in the face. We need go no further than Articles 52 and 97 of the Selangor Constitution.

52(1) There shall be constituted the offices of the State Secretary … and the appointments thereto shall be made by the appropriate Service Commission from amongst members of any of the relevant public services.

It is as clear as daylight that the appointment of the State Secretary “shall be made by the appropriate Service Commission” from members of any of the relevant public services. What is meant by the term “appropriate Service Commission”? For that we have to look at Article 97 of the Selangor Constitution which says:

97(1) There shall be established a State Service Commission whose jurisdiction shall … extend to all persons who are members of the public service of the State.

Article 97(1) confirms that there is in the State of Selangor a State Service Commission which has jurisdiction over all members of the public services of the State. So that “the appropriate Service Commission” in Article 52(1) is the “State Service Commission” referred to in Article 97(1).

Therefore, by virtue of these two provisions of the Selangor Constitution the State Secretary of Selangor is to be appointed by the State Service Commission of Selangor. The Federal Public Services Commission is not the appointing body for the post of the Selangor State Secretary.

So that for anyone to say otherwise is codswallop – the word means “nonsense”. It is evident nonsense for anyone to say that the Federal Public Services Commission is the appointing body for the post of the State Secretary of Selangor.