Is There More To The Abdication And Replacement Of Agong

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Something really happened on January 2nd.

It was the day rumour began to spread of the DYMM Seri Paduka Baginda Yang Di Pertuan Agong would vacate the throne to return as Kelantan Sultan. It came about when the Council of Rulers had to meet for an unscheduled additional day.

There were the usual denials in the form of Kelantan state government warning on circulating fake news, former AG Tan Sri Apandi Ali constitutional clarification, palace press release of His Majesty resuming duty and seen at  Friday's prayer in Kota Baru.

On Sunday January 6th, the palace issued a statement to confirm his Majesty has abdicated the Agong-ship throne. The discussion going around is: why? One blame is on the Malaysia Baru government.

There are views that lay blame on the Agong, but will not discuss. Despite the AG will not honour the separation of power by being selective in upholding the law such as the Sedition Act, we will not dishonour the Sultan.

Before the ascension to the throne, there were talk it was not to be His Majesty. His selection did came as a surprise.

Then the question: who to replace?


Six Sultans met to discuss and announced the next Council of Ruler meeting to select the new Agong on January 25th.

The talk from the few week that there will be an announcement on January 9th is not likely to happen. The abdication has no precedent and according to Isham Jalil, there will be a successor selected before February 3rd.

The names of Tuanku Nazrin of Perak , Tuanku Muhriz of Negeri Sembilan, and Tuanku Ahmad Shah of Pahang were among mentioned.

The selection is done in secrecy and no political interference possible. The Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir could not interfere. The Star's Dato Wong Chun Wai, who was given the honour for a private  interview of the Sultan of Johor. explained the rule of the rulers.

Mahathir denied knowledge of the abdication, then claimed to only hear of rumours, but his announced meeting with the Sultan of Johor on Thursday, January 10th.

It raised the odds for next Agong to be Johor. Even the stock market speculated it as Johor. One wonder what does Damansara Realty Bhd and its majority shareholder, Dato Daeng Malek got to do with the selection of Agong.

Off course, the next question being asked is: what is to happen?


Before the general election, the Sultan of Johor explicitly expressed his displeasure with the former Prime Minister but now present Prime Minister. Mahathir did criticised the Sultan's pet project like the Forest City and His Majesty reacted in a no holds barred manner.

Underlying their differences is His Majesty's effort to bring the pride back to Johor by reviving the past identity of Bangsa Johor.

It is known that Mahathir did not take it well of GLC CEOs attending political rallies and participating in a musical band in support of BN government. But what about royalties critical of him?

Mahathir may still harbour the same displeasure with the Crown Prince for statements deemed as campaigning for BN during the GE. He recently lambasted Tengku Ismail for failing to understand how the Federation works.

His blog posting on rule of law prior to the additional meeting by the council of rulers raised the suspicion that he was pre-empting the Sultan of Johor's appointment as new Agong.

There are those with the conspiracy thoughts that the withdrawal of the Sultan of Kelantan and replaced by Sultan of Johor is pre-planned. One is Dato Lokman Noor Adam below:



Another political conspiracy theory going around is that it will make way for Dato Sri Anwar Ibrahim to replace Mahathir.


While it was reported that Anwar visited Mahathir and said to give him space to lead the government, the pose is not of comfort.

It is claimed that Anwar is close and cordial with the Sultan of Johor. Rumour has it that he asked for Mahathir to "abdicate" by March. Two days after meeting Mahathir, he admitted of attempt to sabotage the succession plan.

There was a swift reminder from Dato Abdul Kadir Jasin to Anwar to learn from history.  With the Sultan of Kelantan out of the way, the rule of law may be uphold and Anwar's pardon could be up for questioning.

Nevertheless, several analysts do not see any Mahathir-palace tension if the Sultan of Johor is Agong.

Some seven months ago, after BN lost, former Kempas, Johor assmblymen rerminded of his repeated advise to "the palace to stay away from politics and business to avoid the abuse of power and possible backlash by the rakyat".

He partly attributed UMNO's lost in Johor to the people's disgust to palace involvement in politics.

Whether there will be friction and exchanges between the new Agong and PM, a former judge confided that it all boils down to political expediency. And, that is not good for the country.

The Monarch is supposed to be another check and balance of any abuse of power. However, how much power is left for the Agong to play such role after Mahathir's series of constitutional amendment in the late 1980s.

He has made known that the power of royals will not be revived and the Sultan of Johor has raised issues with the constitutional amendments made.

With rising cost of goods, withdrawal of government subsidies and assistance, and lost of job together with diminishing income, majority of rakyat is on the brink of poverty. At the same time, many Special Perompak Vehicle schemes are in play on various GLCs, other than LTH.

The leadership and royals should that account that excessive politicking is already bad for the country. More so, with PPBM admitting they intend to win the next election by hook or by crook and using public money.

Be it through political leadership and government machinery or representatives in Parliament or Senate or State assembly, or through royals, the concerns and welfare of the people should be of supreme concern.


   

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