A Concerned Malaysian has expressed his worry over the role being played by Sultans in the appointment of the Menteri Besar. His Royal Highnesses have clearly refused to take the advice of the Chief Minister i.e. the Prime Minister. Instead they have chosen on their own a member of the state legislature to head the Government.
We hear a lot of opinions on the propriety of the action by the Sultan. Some say he has the right to do this while others point out that as a constitutional ruler he could not do this.
The Constitution says that the Ruler or Head of State must choose the elected member who enjoys the support of the majority of members in the legislative body to be the Prime Minister or the Menteri Besar. Subject to this provision the Ruler it is who chooses and appoints the Prime Minister or Menteri Besar.
The Prime Minister, as Prime Minister has no role in the choice of the State Menteri Besar or Ketua Menteri. His naming of candidate who should be the Menteri Besar is purely a party matter. Obviously if the State is captured by the Opposition Party he cannot name the candidate.
However if the Ruler chooses someone who does not enjoy majority support he could be deposed at a sitting of the legislative body through a vote of “no confidence”.
After that another member can be appointed by the Ruler to take his place. But if for some reason there is no other candidate or the candidate with majority support is considered unsuitable by the Ruler, a new Government cannot be formed. The Ruler may then dissolve the legislative body and a new election may be held.
may lead to the same impasse. The Ruler may not like the member with majority support.
However, it should be noted that this kind of thing had never happened during the premiership of the four previous Prime Ministers. Concerned Malaysians should wonder why.
Is it just that the particular Ruler is being difficult, unwilling to accept the principles of democracy, wanting to return to feudalism and the absolute authority of the monarch?
I do not think so. There must be a reason why the Ruler refuses to accept the candidate named by the party. But the Ruler chooses not to reveal the reasons and indulge in public debates. He merely expresses his displeasure by refusing to do what normally the Rulers would do. Concerned Malaysians must ask what has the particular candidate done which is so wrong that it incurs the displeasure of the Ruler.
There are lots of talks in the town. Terengganu is blessed with petroleum deposits. It should get 5% of the total earning from oil production. The Federal Government; fearing the previous PAS Government might use this money wrongly had withheld payment.
But when the Barisan Nasional regained Terengganu the money, now called “Wang Ehsan”, was lavishly spent by the Federal Government on Terengganu. It is not a small sum. Over these years “Wang Ehsan” totaled several billions.
We know that since the Barisan Nasional regained Terengganu in 2004 all kinds of projects have been developed in Terengganu. This include The Monsoon Cup, luxury housing for sale to foreigners, Crystal Mosque and theme park, university etc etc. Some of these projects are very good but many are totally unnecessary and wasteful.
But what the Terengganu people are saying is that all these mega projects costing billions of Ringgit have been contracted out to people outside Terengganu. Terengganu contractors got practically nothing.
But additionally they say the contracts all went to one person and they are suspicious that behind this person are members of the first family. The rumors also say that the previous Menteri Besar was responsible for these things happening and of course they think that he might have benefite financially. The rumors went on to say that the Prime Minister might have influenced the Menteri Besar into doing wrong things.
These are all rumors. It will be quite impossible to prove anything as the perpetrators are skilled in hiding themselves.
This is not good for a Government keen to abolish corruption and be transparent. To clear its name an investigation should be made.
But the public is leery of investigations by Government agencies and departments. Even Royal Commissions are not highly regarded. The people believe, not true of course, that the Government has been interfering with the work of the Anti-Corruption Agency, the Police and the Attorney General’s Chambers. The say this is borne out by the results of investigations by these agencies.
When a Deputy Minister was accused of accepting money for the release of a detainee, the Attorney General said there was no case because the detainee said he did not give any money to the Deputy Minister. It is so easy. If you have a case involving someone all the enforcement agencies need to do is to ask him whether he was involved. If he says “no” than there is no case.
For some reason judges are finding that people accused of murder are not guilty because of insufficient evidence by the police. Yet people who are totally not involved in a case, who were not accused of any misdeeds and who did not appear in court at all and been given a hearing are found guilty and publicly condemned.
The public cannot be blamed for not having faith in Government agencies doing investigations. The public cannot be blamed for suspecting cover-ups by the Government or worse still the Government may be using these enforcement agencies to threaten people.
To clear its good name the Government should get credible foreign agencies to do the investigations. Of course they must be given full access to the documents etc.
Now my detractors are going to say I did worse things when I was Prime Minister. Well if that is so let us have the foreign agencies investigate me also. I am aware that people are looking into possible misdeeds by me during my 22 years so as to threaten me and ask me to shut up. So far they have not found anything.
Not only have I not taken anything that was not due to me while I was Prime Minister but I have given back to the Government and the people everything that I had received as gifts during my tenure of office. The Government had offered me land in Kedah and Langkawi and I had refused to accept. I have a 5-acre piece of land in Putrajaya which I paid for even though the Government was offering it to me free.
Unless there is a frame-up I think there should be nothing to pin on me. Even other accusations against me including the dismissal of judges were not my doing and I do not feel obliged to apologise. Ask the Tribunal to apologise.
The person asking that the Government should apologise for what happened to Tun Salleh Abbas may have forgotten that as President of the Muslim Lawyers Association, he fully supported the action that was taken. He castigated the Bar Council for condemning Tun Hamid Omar over the dismissal of judges. Now he wants to be more correct than correct.
I wonder why.
Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad
Lebih ramai Pemuda UMNO minta adakan pemilihan Kepimpinan segera
Lebih ramai Pemuda UMNO mahukan pemilihan jawatan dalam UMNO, termasuk Kepimpinan disegerakan tahun ini. Ini adalah untuk kebaikan UMNO, terutama setelah UMNO menyaksikan kekalahan dalam 5 + 1 negeri dan prestasi menurun dalam negeri yang lain dalam Pilihanraya Umum XII 8 Mac 2008.
Laporan Bernama.com:
26 Mac, 2008 21:38 PM
Pemimpin Akar Umbi Pemuda Mahu Pemilihan Umno Tahun Ini
KUALA LUMPUR, 26 Mac (Bernama) — Pemimpin Pemuda Umno peringkat akar umbi mahu pemilihan parti diadakan tahun ini bagi membuktikan bahawa Umno sebuah parti bertanggungjawab dan mengamalkan demokrasi tulen demi kepentingan anggotanya dan rakyat secara amnya.
Mereka berpendapat bahawa ini penting bagi menunjukkan bahawa Umno adalah sebuah parti yang mendahulukan hak dan kepentingan anggotanya serta tidak melindungi kepentingan individu tertentu dalam parti.
“Kita sudah berada dalam masa tambahan selepas pemilihan ditangguhkan bagi memberikan laluan kepada pilihan raya umum ke-12, keputusan pucuk pimpinan (menangguhkan pemilihan) akan menidakkan hak ahli untuk memilih pemimpin mereka,” kata pemangku Ketua Pemuda Umno Bahagian Ipoh Barat Ahmad Faizal Azumu kepada Bernama di Putrajaya Rabu.
Beliau mengulas kenyataan Ketua Penerangan Umno Tan Sri Muhammad Muhd Taib semalam bahawa badan-badan perhubungan Umno negeri menyarankan pemilihan parti ditunda kepada Jun tahun depan bagi mengelakkan daripada berlakunya malapetaka kepada parti.
Muhammad, yang juga Menteri Kemajuan Luar Bandar dan Wilayah, berkata ketua-ketua badan perhubungan negeri telah menyatakan persetujuan berhubung perkara itu kepada Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yang juga Presiden Umno.
Pemilihan Umno yang dijadual tahun lepas telah ditunda ke tahun ini bagi memberikan laluan kepada pilihan raya umum ke-12 selepas kali terakhir diadakan pada 2004. Mengikut perlembagaan Umno, pemilihan boleh ditunda sehingga 18 bulan dan tempoh itu berakhir Jun 2009.
Pemerhati politik menjangkakan pemilihan Umno pada tahun ini akan menyaksikan akar umbi menyuarakan pendirian tegas mereka kepada pucuk pimpinan berhubung prestasi Umno yang pudar pada pilihan raya umum 8 Mac lepas, antara lain, menyaksikan beberapa calonnya tumbang di tangan pembangkang.
Faizal berkata pemilihan parti perlu diadakan pada tahun ini bagi mengembalikan keyakinan rakyat dan anggota Umno terhadap kredabiliti kepimpinan parti.
“Melalui pemilihan ahli boleh menilai pemimpin di peringkat cawangan, bahagian dan pusat yang tidak “perform” dalam parti dan semasa pilihan raya umum lepas. Dengan kata lain, pemilihan parti ini pembetulan kepada apa yang silap.
“Kalau pemimpin itu gagal, maka ini masa yang sesuai untuk tak terima sebarang pencalonan,” kata Faizal yang turut menyokong pandangan Exco Pemuda Umno Datuk Mukhriz Tun Mahathir merangkap anggota Parlimen Jerlun bahawa pemilihan perlu disegerakan bagi menghormati suara akar umbi dan bukti bahawa demokrasi dalam Umno masih segar.
Naib Ketua Pemuda Umno Bahagian Titiwangsa Idham Yasser berkata penangguhan pemilihan itu seolah-olah usaha untuk melindungi atau mengekalkan individu tertentu dan bukannya untuk mengembalikan kekuatan parti.
“Kita tak mahu orang kata Umno tak relevan ataupun ahli Umno hanya tahu angguk sahaja. Kita sepatutnya betulkan keadaan dengan mengadakan pemilihan parti ini,” katanya.
Bagi Naib Ketua Pemuda Umno Bahagian Seputeh, Alawi Dahalin, cadangan penangguhan itu akan menyebabkan pemimpin Pemuda yang berpotensi hilang kelayakan untuk bertanding ke jawatan lebih tinggi dalam pergerakan itu ekoran had umur 40 tahun mengikut perlembagaan parti.
“Pemilihan parti perlu diadakan pada tahun ini untuk beri peluang kepada ahli menilai kembali siapa yang layak jadi pemimpin dalam Umno sepertimana rakyat menilai Umno dalam pilihan raya umum lepas,” katanya.
Beliau berkata pucuk pimpinan tidak boleh menafikan realiti di akar umbi ekoran kehilangan sokongan terhadap Barisan Nasional (BN) dan Umno yang menunjanginya dengan menangguhkan pemilihan parti yang sememangnya medan kepada anggota Umno untuk memberikan pandangan dan pendirian mereka.
Pandangan Alawi itu senada dengan pandangan Naib Ketua Pemuda Umno Bahagian Pasir Puteh, Kelantan, Aminuddin Muhammad yang menyatakan bahawa Umno akan kesuntukkan masa untuk menghadapi pilihan raya akan datang sekiranya menangguhkan pemilihan parti.
“Kalau tak buat (pemilihan parti) maka ia bukan untuk pilihan raya tapi kepentingan individu tertentu. Lebih baik kita bergaduh dalam pemilihan untuk kebaikan parti daripada menangis lagi di kemudian hari (pilihan raya akan datang),” katanya.
Naib Ketua Pemuda Umno Bahagian Johor Baharu Nornekman Osman berkata penanguhan pemilihan parti dalam jangka masa panjang itu akan mewujudkan kelompok-kelompok yang melemahkan Umno serta lari daripada fokus utama kepimpinan parti untuk memulihkan Umno.
Beliau berkata pertembungan dalam suasana hangat adalah sesuatu yang tidak dapat dielakkan ekoran keputusan pilihan raya lepas yang menuntut kepimpinan memfokuskan usaha menguatkan parti melebihi kepentingan lain.
Katanya pemilihan itu akan membuktikan kepada anggota khasnya dan rakyat amnya akan ketelusan dan sifat bertanggungjawab parti dalam mengembalikan keyakinan mereka kepada Umno.
— BERNAMA
Pemilihan parti adalah cara untuk UMNO membuktikan bahawa hanya pemimpin yang sesuai sahaja layak memimpin parti nasionalis Melayu yang mempunyai tradisi cemerlang membela rakyat ini. Sejarah telah membuktikan bahawa UMNO menjadi lebih kuat dan membawa kebaikan bertambah untuk kepentingan orang Melayu dan Negara, selepas berlaku proses ‘penghayatan semula’ (regeneration), melalui proses pertukaran Kepimpinan, walaupun pra-matang (pre-mature).
Apabila Pengasas UMNO Dato’ Onn Jaafar mengundurkan diri dalam tahun 1951 dan Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra mengambil alih sebagai Yang DiPertua, UMNO mengubah slogan dari “Hidup Melayu” kepada “Merdeka” dan bergerak secara konsisten kearah itu. Akhirnya, enam tahun kemudian Malaya yang merdeka dan diterajui kepimpinan Melayu lahir dengan mengamalkan sistem raja berpelembagaan.
Sekali lagi, apabila Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra menerima ‘tekanan’ untuk berundur, setelah rata rata orang Melayu amat tidak puas hati dengan tahap kemajuan dan pembangunan mereka dan berlaku peristiwa rusuhan berdarah 13 Mei 1969, Tun Razak Hussein mengambil alih pada tahun 1970 dan berlaku transformasi dan program penyusunan masyarakat paling strategik, menyeluruh dan aggresif dalam sejarah. Dasar Ekonomi Baru (DEB) mula diperkenal dan laksanakan untuk membasmi kemiskinan dengan memberikan penekanan kepada pembangunan fizikal, ekonomi dan modal insan kepada penduduk luar Bandar dan desa. Kesanya amat memberangsangkan sehingga Negara mampu memacu kepada cita cita kearah sebagai status negara maju 20 tahun kemudian apabila “Wawasan 2020” dilancarkan.
Saranan “Perubahan Kepimpinan UMNO akan membawa lebih kebaikan kepada orang Melayu dan Negara” dan “UMNO tidak patut gentar kepada perubahan Kepimpinan pra-matang” ini mula diutarakan oleh Mantan Perdana Menteri Malaysia Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad di Johor Bahru pada 10 Februari 2007.