Was Humpty Dumpty pushed in Selangor?
We are more like the British than you might think in matters of the monarchy
Ishmael Lim, Free Malaysia Today
We may gain a little insight into the recent MB crisis in Selangor by looking at the creation of the independent Federation of Malaya and the history of succession to the prime minister’s post, although not all of the questions will be answered.
Tunku was the Chief Minister of the Federation of Malaya, a self-governing colony of the British Empire, ruled by Queen Elizabeth II. So the Tunku was in fact a colonial minister of the British crown until the legislation granting independence to the federation.
In the pre-independent Federation, the first democratic election was in 1955. This was when Tunku became the Chief Minister of the Federation. There wasn’t yet a Yang diPertuan Agung; so Tunku’s appointment must have received the assent of the British Crown.
It was a fast track process to democracy, a condition insisted upon when the British decided to grant independence to the Federation.
So in 1956, Lord Reid began drafting the Federal Constitution of Malaya. The Federation of Malaya Independence Act 1957 was an act of the British Parliament. It came into operation on July 31 1957. The structure and form of our government mirror those of the British. Lord Reid made sure of that. We are more like the British than you might think in matters of the monarchy.
Thus the birth of the independent nation came about with the signing of the Federal Constitution on May 21, when the Yang diPertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan became the first Yang diPertuan Agung, and Tunku became the first Prime Minister. The registration of that birth was by the British Parliament legislation of July 31. The celebration followed a month later on August 31, which we now associate with the declaration of “Merdeka” by Tunku.
We can see from modern history that Tunku’s appointment pre-independence was never in doubt. His reappointment in the subsequent years must have been easy for the rulers as he was instrumental in the conception, delivery and nurture of the nation in its adolescent years. He held the position of prime minister till his retirement in 1970.
The first test of the constitutional process of appointment must have been his successor’s, in Tun Razak. The chain of deputies rising to the top post has never been broken and the tradition carries till today, with current PM Najib taking over from Pak Lah. Witnessing this convention for the succession to prime ministership, from the infancy of the nation till the present, it is natural that questions would be raised about the extraordinary manner in which the successor to Khalid Ibrahim was recently chosen.
Nearly every step of the MB crisis has been far from ordinary. From the conception to the execution of the Kajang Move, with its conclusion in the appointment of Azmin Ali, the process has been novel and surprising. The fluidity and dynamism observed could not possibly have come from a reliance on a ponderous system of dry rules and assembly standing orders. It was this unpredictability that concerned the citizens most.
The Alliance Party, composed of Umno, MCA and MIC, was registered as a political organisation on October 30 1957. It became Barisan National (BN) in 1973 with the addition of more parties to the coalition.
So BN is a single entity, unlike Pakatan Rakyat. Had Zaid Ibrahim completed the registration of PR with the ROS before his departure, it might have strengthened the case for a single nominee to be accepted by the palace.
