Why the Rulers love Hadi more than Mahathir

By MT Webmaster Last updated Sep 9, 2017

So, yes, PAS and Hadi are kingmakers in more ways than you can imagine. In the event of a hung parliament, and if PAS and/or Hadi say they prefer Barisan Nasional to Pakatan Harapan, then His Majesty the Agong will swear in the Barisan Nasional government and the Conference of Rulers will back His Majesty. And Azmin knows this and he also knows that DAP’s and Kit Siang’s arrogance just pisses off the Rulers even more.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Many cannot understand why some PKR leaders, in particular Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali, are reluctant to abandon PAS in spite of the fact that PAS is not a member of Pakatan Harapan. In fact, it was DAP and not PKR that closed down Pakatan Rakyat and announced that Pakatan Rakyat no longer exists. That was actually a unilateral decision by DAP and not done with the consensus of PKR and PAS. And the reason DAP did this was so that they could get rid of PAS.

The trouble with Malaysians is many are ignorant of history and always look at things in isolation without taking into consideration the historical background to these events. And that is why many so-called ‘political analysts’ do a miserable job of analysing the current political situation.

Even when we talk about events of, say 30 or 40 years ago, they respond by saying why talk about old stories? Old stories are not important. But that is just it. If not because of ‘old stories’ today Malaysia would be 95% Malay instead of just 50% like now. So ‘old stories’ is the reason why Malaysia is what it is today.

So ignore ‘old stories’ at your own peril because then you would not understand why Azmin Ali and other PKR leaders have a very different view of PAS compared to, say, DAP. And today, against my better judgement, I am going to reveal why PAS is extremely important to Pakatan Harapan and why Lim Kit Siang made the biggest blunder of his 54-year political career by getting rid of PAS.

Back in the early 1980s Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad decided he no longer wants to retain the power-sharing system that had been in place since Merdeka. Malaysia is one of the most unique countries in the world because it has four branches of government (when most countries have only three or less). These four branches of government are the Legislature (Parliament), the Judiciary (the courts and legal system), the Monarchy (the Conference of Rulers) and the Executive (the Prime Minister).

Hadi has a special relationship with the Rulers that goes way back to the 1980s

So Mahathir started demolishing Parliament (making it subservient to the Prime Minister by sacking or suspending MPs who went against him). Then the Judiciary (removing all those judges he could not control and appointing his nominees to the bench). And finally the Monarchy (Mahathir launched what is now known as the ‘Constitutional Crisis’).

Anwar Ibrahim was an accessory to this Constitutional Crisis and he shared Mahathir’s view that the Monarchy should be abolished like in India and Indonesia and that Malaysia should be turned into a Republic. But PAS disagreed with this. PAS believed that the Monarchy should be retained and Abdul Hadi Awang led a pro-monarchy demonstration in front of the Sultan of Terengganu’s palace in Kuala Terengganu to show support.

Azmin Ali is the Selangor Menteri Besar only because Hadi Awang and PAS agree to it, which is why DAP is so angry

PAS members and supporters from all over the state of Terengganu were ferried by bus into Kuala Terengganu and tens of thousands of PAS members and supporters congregated in front of the palace to listen to pro-monarchy speeches by PAS leaders. Invariably the Constitutional Crisis failed and Malaysia remained a Monarchy, albeit a Constitutional Monarchy. What was more important is that Mahathir’s and Anwar’s plot to turn Malaysia into a Republic failed.

Many of today’s Rulers were very young more than 30 years ago and were not yet on the throne. But all of them know that the only reason why today they managed to inherit the throne is because of PAS and Hadi. If not Perlis would no longer have a Raja, Negeri Sembilan would no longer have a Yang di-Pertuan Besar, and Kedah, Perak, Selangor, Johor, Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan would no longer have Sultans. All 13 states in Malaysia would have Governors and Chief Ministers (no longer even Menteri Besars).

So Malaysia’s Rulers owe PAS and Hadi a lot. Even RM100 million cannot repay what PAS and Hadi did for the Rulers. Malaysia is still a Constitutional Monarchy because of PAS and Hadi. And people like Azmin and many PKR leaders know this. They also know that in the event of a hung Parliament and if PAS decides to throw its support behind Barisan Nasional then the Rulers will support Barisan Nasional as the new federal government.

So, yes, PAS and Hadi are kingmakers in more ways than you can imagine. In the event of a hung Parliament, and if PAS and/or Hadi say they prefer Barisan Nasional to Pakatan Harapan, then His Majesty the Agong will swear in the Barisan Nasional government and the Conference of Rulers will back His Majesty. And Azmin knows this and he also knows that DAP’s and Kit Siang’s arrogance just pisses off the Rulers even more.

Daulat Tunku!