Utusan Draws The Line : We Will Not Mengadap Sultan
Wouldnt it be interesting if the tree roots and boulders reach out to grab you instead? Sometimes they do, for an appropriate consideration of course.
OutSyed The Box
Two days ago I met a senior member of one of the royal households. He said that just like royals all over the world, the royals here too are afraid of negative publicity. Their biggest fear, he said, was if the Sedition Act is abolished. Or if the Sedition Act is amended and does not give them the ‘shielding’ or protection from public scrutiny which they do not like.
He also said that the royals are aware that the younger generations of today have no real link or sympathy with the royals. He said that young people today may not even recognise a royal. Hence the younger generation may not agree why special rules still apply to the royals. In essence, the younger generation are closer to a republican system for the country than being a constitutional monarchy. Those were his points. Rather frank views coming from a member of a royal household.
I suppose no one likes negative publiciy but the royals can feel the heat much more than others. Especially when what is being publicised are things that they may not wish to be publicised or become part of the public discourse.
And usually when the royals do get into the press, it is for the wrong reasons. If the Oo of Oo Ba Doo had scrambled eggs for breakfast that will not be news. But if the Oo threw the eggs at some Somali slave waiter, well that news will go around the world. So it is always bad news that moves at light speed.
Anyway the Johor royalty has been hogging the news again. I guess you all know the back ground. I want to reproduce here two articles – one from Raja Petra Kamaruddin and the other from Utusan Malaysia. Both speak about the Johor royalty. Bear in mind that both these articles are by Malays. Raja Petra himself is a minor royal.
1. JOHOR TRIGGERING A CONSTITUTION CRISIS, YET AGAIN – Raja Petra Kamarudin
The Johor palace has always had what we could probably call ‘special powers’, for want of a better term, compared to the other eight Malaysian royal households. Even Singapore ‘closes one eye’ to the antics of the Johor royalty rather than risk rubbing them the wrong way — which is unique for Singapore which takes no shit from anyone (other than just the Johor royalty).
The Johor palace has always attracted controversy that makes the other royal households cringe and shudder. For example, the Raja Muda of Johor almost started a war with Terengganu around 40 years ago when he assaulted a female member of the Terengganu royal family. It seems this particular member of the Terengganu royalty was returning from a shopping trip in Singapore when her car was stopped at the causeway and subjected to a 100% check.
The Customs officer found undeclared goods in her car and when asked whom they belong to she replied they belong to Tengku Mahmud. She meant Tengku Mahmud the Raja Muda of Terengganu and not the Raja Muda of Johor, who had the same name.
The Customs officer then contacted the Raja Muda of Johor who stormed to the Customs checkpoint at the causeway and on discovering he did not know who this woman was he started assaulting her. Later, of course, it was discovered that she was not lying. She just did not explain which Tengku Mahmud she meant.
That happened about 40 years ago. If it had been 240 years ago then for sure Terengganu would have sent an army to Johor to extract an apology from the palace. And, knowing Johor, they would not have apologised but would have defeated the Terengganu army and sent it home with its tail between its legs because Johor is the only state with its own ‘Sultan’s’ army, and commandoes too on top of that.
It was also alleged that the Raja Muda had killed a golf caddy (that resulted in the ‘Private Adam’ episode) while his son had beaten up Gomez, the hockey team coach. Earlier, the Raja Muda was charged and convicted of manslaughter for shooting dead what he believed to be a smuggler while his brother was convicted for shooting dead a man during a nightclub brawl.
Both were immediately pardoned by their father, the Sultan.
And there were many more incidences before and after that over a period of more than 40 years, the most recent being that gun incident in the quarrel between members of the Johor and Negeri Sembilan royal families.
In short, the Johor palace has always had a mind of its own. It will do what it wants to do whether the law or the Constitution allows it to or not. A few words written on a piece of paper is not going to decide what the Johor palace or the Johor royal family can or cannot do.
And the Johor palace has an army behind it in case anyone would like to take this case to the streets.
The Johor palace has always reminded me of England in the 1500s. The King was capable of sacking the Pope and of inventing a new branch of Christianity with him as the head (plus he put to death all the Papalists) just to show who is the boss.
And that is what the Johor palace is, a power above the law with a Sultan appointed by God. And because of Johor, most likely the days of the Republic of Malaysia may not be too far down the road. But then again this may not happen just yet in our lifetime. Nevertheless, if the members of the royal family are not careful, it will eventually happen one day in the future. So be warned!
Next up is Awang Selamat’s Bisik-Bisik in Utusan Malaysia. The Utusan has been at the forefront in highlighting the recent bill presented to the Johor Assembly. In his Bisik-Bisk column Utusan’s chief Editor says point blank that if the Sultan of Johor summons them to mengadap they will not go. Here is the Utusan news which I have truncated :
2. Mengadap…
Seorang teman bertanyakan kepada Awang, apakah wakil Utusan Malaysia dipanggil mengadap Sultan Johor
Itulah pertanyaan biasa dalam kalangan orang media setiap kali ada isu sensitif yang menyentuh istana Johor. Apa yang Awang boleh tolong jawabkan bagi pihak Utusan – tiada.
Keresahan orang media terhadap perkara seperti itu patut dihentikan.
Sebenarnya tiada sebab dalam era moden terutama landskap media yang baharu, pembesar istana boleh sesuka hati memanggil editor atau wartawan, apatah lagi untuk dimarahi.
Awang pun kalau menjadi bos media tidak mahu datang sekiranya dipanggil mengadap untuk tujuan seperti itu
Jika ada sebarang teguran atau mahukan penjelasan daripada media, cukup sekadar Sultan atau pihak istana mengutuskan wakil untuk bertemu dengan orang media.
Adalah tidak sesuai bagi Sultan mencemar duli berurusan secara langsung dengan mana-mana editor jika timbul situasi yang tidak menyenangkan.
Awang percaya Sultan Johor ….tidak akan merendahkan nilai serta darjatnya sebagai seorang Raja.
