The Kings and I

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh,

It suddenly interests me after this very dramatic and surprising General Election results in Malaysia. I think this election has not just made the people aware of the corruption and the need to unite and stand up to fight these destructive elements in the government, now the Sultanate of 9 states in Malaysia has also started to rise and exercise their rights over their states.

The usual scenario in Malaysia was that after the election, the new Prime Minister would appoint the new Chief Minister of a state (Menteri Besar or MB) that the ruling government obtains the majority in. And then, the King or Sultan of the state would just nod his head to agree, most of the time without questioning. I don't really know why but this somehow showed that the government has more power than the Sultan. This Sultanate institution has been an important part of the Malaysian history. Around the 15th century, the Malays (originated from India and Sumatra, Indonesia) came to the Peninsular of Malaysia and opened the Malacca Strait for international trading. The leader then became the king or Sultan (has the same title as the kings in India, Ottoman Empire, etc.). The descendants then went on and ruled nearly the whole Peninsular of Malaysia until the border of Thailand (Siam) owned by the King of Thailand (the only kingdom in South-East Asia that has never been conquered by any foreign force), until the colonisation of the Portuguese, then the Dutch and finally the British. The kings lost their power in their respective states due to the Residential system where the Advisors of the states are the British who put the Sultans as their puppets so that the people would listen.

The Sultans had no choice but to follow the instruction of the British. Since most of the people were loyal to the royal families and were not educated, they listened to the Sultans anyway. The power or the Sultans were shrunk into just insignificant affairs like Malay customs and religion. After the independence, this trend continued and only recently that when the Sultan of Perak's son who graduated from Harvard decided to not to accept the MB appointed by the opponent coalition which ruled the state of Perak, that I think it enlightens the rest of the Sultans.

Now in Perlis (the only state in the Northern of Malaysia that is still under the ruling coalition), the Sultan decided to go against the will of the Prime Minister by appointing an MB who is not the choice of the Prime Minister. Read the news. It shocked many but hey, that is the right thing to do because that is the Sultan's power in the civil law and constitution of the state! Whether the government like it or not. I would like to congratulate the Sultan of Perlis in making this move and I am sure that the people of Perlis will always accept the decision of the royal family over the Prime Minister, especially when many people, even the members of the ruling parties have asked the Prime Minister to step down due to the great lost in this General Election.

Another reason for the Sultans to exercise their rights, I think, is because of the weak leadership of the government by the Prime Minister as well as the wide spreading complains of the people of the poverty and oppression resulted from the corrupted government. The Sultans of course love their people, no doubt. It has been generations and generations that the royal family stay in the state. Even when there is a royal wedding, all the people are invited. For the love of the people, the Sultans will never want to see their people suffer, and since they have no power to rule their own states due to the democratic system which was installed into Malaysia as one of the conditions for independence, the Sultans will never be able to rule the state except by joining a party and compete in the election. So, the only way to do this is to appoint a very good MB for the state.

If the Prime Minister is a very caliber and respected leader, of course the Sultans will just leave the matter of appointing the MB to him. But this is not the case anymore now, very unfortunately for the Prime Minister and his cronies in the state level. Now it is not just Perlis' Prime-Minister-favoured MB that is going to suffer of the Prime Minister's own fault for not stepping down, the Terengganu's may also face the same consequence after news is said that the Sultan of Terengganu may reject the PM-favoured MB.

Congratulation to the Sultans for making wise decision for the sake of the people.

Let's wait and see what's next.

ALLAHU'alam.

Wassalam.