Royalist or loyalist : Between Perak and Terengganu...

Perak's political crisis sees no end. Terengganu's sent Idris packing. Same UMNO, different ending...or is it different beliefs??

More than 10 days had passed but the Perak crisis has no ending in sight. In fact, as ime drags on, the issue becomes more clouded, more possibilities, more probable situations, more headache, more trauma to all those involved. Heck ! Even for those who wish to remains apolitical are dragged into the the quidmire.

This time, let's look into the issue, objectively and leave your poltical alignation outside.

In Terengganu, the Sultan, through the Council of Rulers rejected Idris Jusoh as the MB. Although there were many speculations on the reasons for the rejection, the issue was further blown up when the majority of the BN elected reps threatened to boycott the incoming MB. Even PM AAB joined in the fray saying that the Sultan's action is unconstitutional. However, the Council of Rulers stood their ground and elected Mohd Said as the MB and incidentally, he is from BN. Despite the threats of BN elected reps to resign en masse, the threat dissipates.

During the height of the situation, several UMNO supporters put up banners "implying" harsh words to the Sultan, who is currently the YDP Agung. Weeks later, Terengganu's NGO organise w grand welcome to YDP Agung on his scheduled trip to Terengganu. The numbers speak for itself. Clearly, the rakyat supported the Sultan's decision on his choice of MB. With that, "POP" goes UMNO's act of defiance towards the Sultan's decision.

The leassons learned from Terengganu are :

1. Sultan has the rights and privilidge to reject the candidates put forward by PM;
2. The Sultan choose MB from the party that controls the majority state reps
3. The people will support the Sultan as long as they perceived that the decision is just and fair
4. The Sultan-people represent the close inter-relation between the 2

Fast forward 11 months later, different state, different situation. By act of defection which has been discussed by both sides, the fragile Perak government crumbles due to the irresponsible act of 3 elected reps from PR. Why irresponsible? Because they have put their interest above the expectations of their voters. Once elected, they collectively feels that they can do everything without considering the hopes of thpousands of their electorates who put them in their current position.

With a little bit of coaxing from NTR, HRH Sultan of Perak requested MB Nizar to vacate his MB post which MB Nizar refuse, citing that it is not legimate. From thereon, things began to fall apart. Durign teh first few days, banners put up by PR supporters urge the Sultan to dissolve the state assembly sio that another state election can be held. In all the pictures shown, there were no banners that criticise HRH in person.

In the height of the crisis, thousands flock to Kuala Kangsar to express their disagreement to MB's Zambry swearing in. Tear gas were fired. And with that, Perak has 2 MB's in their midst.

Here, the difference with Trengganu is clear. There were no attempts from PR to throw insults to HRH. None were recorded. If there is, MSM and UMNO will be having a field day to capitalise on PR's mistakes. But there were none.

UMNO then resorted to drum up on the words "mohon derhaka" which literally means the beg to differ in opinion. UMNO started potraying MB Nizar as committing treason. KJ attended the UMNO youth gathering in Ipoh to condemn MB Nizar and Karpal Singh (for his words that Sultans can be sued). The crowd turnout? Depending on who you want to believe, it will range from 400 to 1000. Is that all UMNO youth can gather? Clearly, the gathering failed to galvanise the support of Joe public as how Terengganu case manage to gather the support of Joe publics. Clearly, for UMNO to justify the ends, they have to resort to their youth wing...no NGO's were there.

With that, what really happen between the 2 states? Are the people supporting the Sultan in Terengganu royalist? Or are they loyalist? Based on the sequence of events, Dnightcaller tends to believe that Malaysians are loyalist, first before they are royalist. Loyalist because they maintains loyalty to an established government, political party, or sovereign. The people are loyalist and agrees to the Sultan's decision to choose MB from the party carrying the majority of state reps. The same goes for Perak. The people feels that PR is the rightful winner and the legitimate government.

After they are loyalist, they are royalist, in the sense that they will openly show their support to the Sultan who respect the peoples' wish. It is not a matter of political parties anymore. It transcends the political clout as people in Terengganu willingly make their way to the airport to show their support to the Sultan. No monies paid, no transportation provided, no flags and banners distributed. They do it all on their own initiative.

Back to Perak, the people feels that the decision to appoint BN back to head the state is wrong. As such, the loyalists did not recognise the BN led government and instead they continuously show their support to MB Nizar. Even when MB Nizar was ousted from his office, evicted from his official residence, the people are still behind him. With time, MB Nizar will find more and more difficult to administer the state. But the people's feelings will simmer liek the malay proverb " Api dalam sekam", waiting to explode against the BN led government. With that, the royalist diminish a notch down, exposing the royals to accusations and risk of exposures that will hurt the royal house.

3 events show the support of Perak people to MB Nizar :

1. 8,000 or so attended PR rally in MB Nizar's residence;
2. the overhelming support given to MB Nizar when he visited the Thaipusm celebration in Ipoh, in contrast to teh lukewarm support given to MB Zambry. Both went to the same place, but at different times.
3. The demo against MB Zambry when he joined the Chap Goh Mei celebration in Ipoh.

Even this is without taking into consideration that NTR has to cancel his trip to the Chap Goh Mei's celebration due to "security reasons". The same when the palace has to call off the silver jubilee celebration in Batu Gajah.

MB Nizar is gracious in his stand when he attended the royal bash held in Perak last night. He may not be ushered to his seat but he has make his point that he still consider himself as the MB of Perak.

What now? MB Nizar has filed in his suit to declare MB Zambry as the illegal MB of Perak. That, we let the court to decide. But then again, 1 small caption did not escape this blogger when another leading blogger Rocky bru mentions on the following :
SUNDAY RALLY FOR SULTAN. There will be a gathering in front of the Istana Kayangan Shah Alam this morning [Sunday, 15 Feb 2009] at 9.30 a.m. The gathering is a show of support for the Sultan of Selangor's special statement on the state of affairs in Perak. A memorandum will be submitted to the Sultan.

Funny thing is the gathering was not picked up by MSM and was not reported by TV3. Just wondering out loud...how many turn up for the assembly?













Minaq Jinggo reported that approximately 300 show up at Shah Alam on Sunday morning to express support for Sultan Selangor's statement. The gathering was lead by Khir Toyo. Is 300 all that coame? Just like 300 spartans...

Till then...G'nite M'sia...wherever u are...