Sultan declines to grant audience to Khalid Samad

(The Rakyat Post) – Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah today declined to grant an audience to Shah Alam Member of Parliament Khalid Samad.

Khalid had requested for an audience to explain his statement calling for abolition of the executive powers of the Selangor Islamic Affairs Council (Mais).

The Sultan’s private secretary, Datuk Mohamad Munir Bani, said the letter the Sultan received on Friday was not one apologising for his actions but one in which he requested to explain his statements.

According to Munir, the Sultan refused to accept the letter because the whole world had understood Khalid’s statements.

“There is no reason to give explanations to the Sultan. It is better to explain to the people, as he had announced to the whole world that Mais’ executive powers should be done away with.

“The Sultan wants Abdul Khalid to explain to the people just as he had done before. He had used the media. Therefore, he must use the same channel to provide his explanation.

“There is no need to  see His Majesty,” he said to the media today.

Munir said had the letter been one requesting forgiveness, the Sultan could have considered it. But since he wanted an audience just to provide explanations, the Sultan had rejected it.

Abdul Khalid and three other Selangor PAS MPs had in June urged Mais to return the Malay-language Bibles confiscated by Islamic Affairs Department enforcement officers to the Malaysian Bible Association.

He also asked the Selangor state government to abolish Mais’ executive powers, which drew the ire of the Sultan, who considered Khalid as rude.