No more “mandat Rakyat”, it’s now “mandat Istana”
This is a very positive development where the “Wakil Rakyat” no longer have absolute say in how the country is run and where the Istana shares power with the Rakyat and decides who gets to run the country after the Rakyat have chosen their 222 “Wakil Rakyat.”
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
For more than a year, the opposition and the anti-Muhyiddin Yassin group had been screaming, “Kembalikan mandat Rakyat!” And then they themselves turned the “mandat Rakyat” into “mandat Istana” by surrendering the authority of the Rakyat to the Istana.
This is a most puzzling development indeed. Since the 1980s and 1990s, during two Constitutional Crises, the politicians, in particular politicians from Umno, have been accusing the Istana of abusing its power by getting involved in politics. Not one of the states that has a Raja Melayu has been spared these attacks.
The Raja-Raja Melayu have been threatened and warned that they are a relic of Malaysia’s feudal past and are merely being tolerated. Hence, they must behave themselves and not interfere or get involved in political and administrative matters.
So, for more than 30 years the Raja-Raja Melayu have been silent observers and have not commented about what politicians do, even when they commit misdeeds and transgressions. To do otherwise would open the entire institution of the monarchy to attacks from politicians.
Every five years, Malaysian citizens who are eligible to vote and who are registered voters get to choose their representatives. This is because Malaysia practices a representative system of government. And 222 representatives or members of parliament are chosen at the ballot box, what the Malays call “Wakil Rakyat” or “Citizens’ Representatives”.
These 222 representatives, members of parliament, or “Wakil Rakyat”, then decide who becomes the Prime Minister. By tradition or convention, the leader of the party with the most number of seats in parliament becomes the PM, although the law does not say so, because it is up to the 222 MPs to come to an agreement on the choice of PM.
Now, however, the 222 (now 220) MPs do not want that job of choosing the prime minister. They want to abrogate their power of choosing the prime minister and transfer that right to the Istana.
The rakyat gave the mandate of deciding the country’s future to the 222 MPs. The 222 MPs, on the other hand, have transferred that mandate to the Istana. The Istana and not the 222 “Wakil Rakyat” now hold the “Mandat Rakyat.”
What was supposed to be merely a Constitutional Monarchy is now a monarchy with executive powers. The monarchy has the power to decide the future and direction of the country by choosing who should be prime minister.
The PM Muhyiddin Yassin has proposed a solution, which is a unity government or kerajaan perpaduan. The opposition, however, rejected this solution. The solution of the opposition is to transfer the problem to the Istana to resolve. The “Wakil Rakyat” would then give up their power and authority and allow the Istana to take over.
This is a very positive development where the “Wakil Rakyat” no longer have absolute say in how the country is run and where the Istana shares power with the Rakyat and decides who gets to run the country after the Rakyat have chosen their 222 “Wakil Rakyat.”
