The King And U

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The King and U-Mobile and the tale of two brave Hassans
Kuala Lumpur, Nov 22: That the vocal YB Hassan Karim has been called up by his own party’s disciplinary committee for criticizing the PMX and the King recently. The PKR man is very likely going to be censored by the committee but whether the “punishment” for speaking out for the Rakyat as their elected representative will leave a mark on the Madani government, for sure. 
And for our freedom of expression.
In the meantime, two weeks have gone since Perkasa, the Malay NGO, lodged a police report on claims made in the media that the King had a 22% stake in U-Mobile, the telco that has been picked by the government to set up the long overdue second 5G network. 
Syed Hassan Syed Ali, the Perkasa president, told me he hadn’t heard from the cops since making the report.
According the Perkasa, the Constitution clearly prohibits the King from active participation in business. And according to Hassan when he lodged that report Perkasa wasn’t certain if the claims made in the media were true. 
If it’s untrue, he wants the police to act against the authors of those reports for trying to tarnish the image of the King. If it’s true, well, “we’ll have to find a way to deal with it”.
One portal saw Hassan and Perkasa’s report as Reverse psychology at play.
But are the actions by the two Hassans a mere charade, or do they echo what the masses, especially the Malay rakyat, feel? This is something the PKR Disciplinary Committee and the police have to decide. They must consult the Constitutional experts before making a decision. The Constitution is supreme. Avoid, at all cost, another Constitutional crisis.
As a citizen, I understand what YB Hassan and Perkasa’s Syed Hassan are leading to. Ten years ago, several bloggers and I wrote against the business partnership between a major corporation and an heir to the Johor throne. We felt obliged to take the risk because we agreed that the active participation of the prince in such business would not augur well for the image and integrity of the Rulers. 
It can be argued that the King’s 22% shareholding in U-Mobile does not make him an active participant. He’s not an executive and, furthermore, Sultan Ibrahim has held those shares since 2015 or 2016, long before he became the King and longer before 5G. Blogger Salahuddin Hisham puts forward a solid defence in a recent posting in Thick as a Brick.
Excerpts from U-Mobile: Putting aside Vincent Tan, Spore, Istana and Politics
Perhaps, the intention is either to create impression that Maxis and DigiCelcom could not match the influence of Agong's 22.3% stake in U Mobile or anti-Forest City Mahathir throwing stones while hiding his hands

Nevertheless, the Sultan is merely a passive investor and legally speaking does not have any executive role or represented on the Board of Directors. Thus there is no enforceable breach of the Constitution. 
In all fairness, his Majesty had long been a passive investor in U Mobile. His initial equity was 5% before raising it to 10% in 2015, 9 years ago. The earlier investment was longer
But that’s just one good blogger’s assertion. What about the rest of us, the Bar Council, BERSIH, Rapera? What say the Prime Minister?
Talk about the PM, I must say I have to disagree with YB Hassan’s accusation that by awarding the second 5G network to U-Mobile, Anwar Ibrahim  is repeating the same mistakes committed during Dr Mahathir Mohamad's first term by surrounding himself with individuals and corporate entities out to get lucrative contracts.
It’s rather unfair to put the blame on Anwar like that. Because all of us know that all big businesses in Malaysia involve some crony or other. Unless you know one that isn’t!

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