The following is an excerpt from the famed Raja Petra's Malaysia Today blog where he wrote on the current smokescreens in our political landscape. In his posting, Raja Petra spoke at length about the many crimes of the Mighty Tun's regime but said UMNO were free to undo many of his rules & wrongs after he stepped down. They did not. Ok, so far, so good. Then he goes to write about the Tun Salleh Abbas case (read below):
"Okay, let us look at another case. This one involves the sacking of Tun Salleh Abbas, the Chief Justice. The story being spun is that Mahathir ordered his sacking and Zaid Ibrahim, the new ‘Minister of Law’, wants to resurrect the case and make an issue out of it. But did Mahathir really sack the Chief Justice?
What happened was that the Chief Justice had a home next door to the Agong’s and His Majesty’s house was under renovation. The Chief Justice was displeased with the noise and pollution and he wrote a letter to the Agong with copies to all the Rulers complaining about the matter. The Agong was upset with this insolence on the part of the Chief Justice. Writing a complaint letter is one thing and could be forgiven since this was a genuine grievance -- though an audience would have been the correct protocol instead of a complaint letter -- but to copy the letter to all the Rulers smacks of pressure.
The Agong was outraged and demanded that Mahathir sack the Chief Justice for this insolence that tantamount to misconduct. Mahathir, however, replied that he does not have the authority to sack the Chief Justice and that this can only be done through a Tribunal. The Agong then commanded (titah) that a Tribunal be set up, which was to report direct to His Majesty. The Tribunal found the Chief Justice guilty of misconduct and sent its recommendation to the Agong, who then removed the Chief Justice."
Am sorry, he cannot be serious rite? Firstly, as one blogger commented, if this was the case, where is the said letter. Prove it. Ok, easier said than done. But what really irks me is that if Raja Petra is to be believed, the Agong was willing to set in motion a chain of events that led to a constitutional crisis simply because someone complained about renovations in his house!!?!
Fooking incredible or what? If this is true, just goes to show what breed of people call themselves 'rulers' of this country. Nevermind the sanctity of the courts; the correct and ardours protocol relating to communiques with the Rulers must be observed at all costs!!! Really hope this isn't true, coz if it is, we are in deeper shit than we think we are.
If it is, time we seriously start thinking bout campaigning fer a republic. As usual, look forward to reading yer thoughts on this issue.
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I don't think just because one King screwed up we should abolish the entire monarchy. Like our present King, he rocks!
Afif: Point. But am seriously quite shocked at Raja Petra's reportage. This canna be true, can it?
being a TDM-man, this is rather tough for me lah. but like what afif had pointed out, we still need the sultans to be up there to monitor the politicians behaviour. take the recent terengganu fracas for instance, the rakyat had no say when a crook was initially chosen to lead the state while the state oppo was over-powered. basically those outside the ruling party was powerless to stop the rot EXCEPT for, the Ruler @DYMM Agong. his interference served as a reminder that those umno goons are not the mightiest.
i'm not surprised though... i read before somewhere that some sultan's son o smth banged someone n got away with it n apparently harassed d victim as well... dunno if it's true. =/
Hmmm interesting points of view. While Raja Petra's take on the issue does smack of some political motive and hence challenges one to verify it's authenticity/believability - even for a man of his stature, its is NOT entirely impossible to dismiss.
At the risk of sounding like a monarchy-basher, I have heard and even witnessed an undeniable amount of bullying, law breaking and general misuse of power - practised and personified by none other than the Sultan of Johor. Famed example would be the abuse and sacking of a certain hockey coach, who incidentally was my coach while studying in English College, JB. So of course me and my mates got a 1st hand account of what went down then and there after. Which did not end as well as many people thought, esp with regards to the late Mr. Gomez and his family.
Anyways the point I'm trying to make here is that such bullying, reactionary behaviour from SOME of our rulers are NOT uncommon - though fortunately they also not tolerated in recent times. Sometimes truth is scarier than fiction.
hey AD, thanks for the comments!
On Raja Petra's post...I dunno man..
at first i enjoyed reading his stories...then...i have doubts over this Raja...
it just seems unreal at times...I have the feeling that Raja Petra since the start of MalaysiaToday has gained such respect and adulation that he has lost some humility...sorry if this hurt any of his admirer but...
seriously...at times his comments put down anyone and everyone as if he sees himself in the light of someone greater than everyone....God Almighty?! I dunno...but I have been very critical of this fella!
sounds far-fetched. IMO, RPK's pieces (some of them at least) are satirical. i wouldn't take them at face value.
cant really wholly believe what RPK writes, most of the time...but it sure provides a good read...
As for Salleh Abas, all I can say is that this man was an ordinary judge, a bit of an ogre (i was told by some senior lawyers) but the very people who he bashed & abused in court are the ones who are now fighting for his cause. Ironically, his sacking/removal has made him into some sort of a matyr (honestly, undeserving...)
I for one view the sacking as an event that really undermined the independence of the judiciary for the manner as to how it was conducted, and not because of the personality involved. Not because of Salleh Abas but because of the position of the Lord President.
Again (looking at his judgments), I think Hamid Omar was the better judge but because of the manner of his appointment, and the fact that he participated in the tribunal, has really tainted him.
But honestly, i wouldnt discount the fact that there could be an element of truth in RPK's article..After all, some judges tend to think that they are gods and are untouchable..reminds of a certain judge, "Miracle" Singh we called him, who wrote on the then Supreme Court letterhead, condemning the 1st Gulf War and circulated the letter...when he had no fooking reason to do so...a bit odd really...
And what are we to do with the royalty if we switch to republic? Would we guillotine them like the French did with the Hapsburg family? Has the breach of western ideals reached us so much that we can even think the idea of a republic.
I dare say some members of the royal family are a repugnant lot. However, there are those that serve the peoples' cause.
Then again, this is why we love novels by Tom Clancy, Dan Brown, Robert Ludlum and Michael Crichton. These are stuffs of conspiracy theory. Oh before i forget let's not forget the Khairy Chronicles. Now that's a piece of all the President's Men. Or in this case, the Prime Minister's Man by Keronkong Dalam.
teeheehee
i read a book by Tun Salleh Abbas after he was sacked entitled Mayday for Justice.
he detailing the event before he was sacked.it was a good book but then, its his side of story la.
no nothing about noisy neighbor shit.
if im agong, and someone complaint about the noise at my house,i dun go to PM to complaint,i'll send my killer dog to shut em up.
afif: As you can see from the comments of one or two others, there's always them stories bout how these rulers behave - mabuk, judi, womanising etc, tak apa. But fer a long time, they were hoodlums who harrassed ordinary folk. Caddies (who dared laugh) were the least safe of all if you get me drift.
Kerp: You should then realise that yer hero had on many occassions tried to curtail the powers of these rulers. So how? Agree? Disagree?
nickm: well if its satire, the bugger really buried the meaning of his piece with that. Care to explain the real meaning here?
senorita / premo: yes, many of us remember a time in the 80s when all sorts of stories bout these rulers would circulate. In particular bout the royal house of Johor.
@dam: Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Still will give this guy (RPK) a bit of credit coz all said & done, Malaysia Today is still a far better read than The Star (or The Shite as it should be known). Pity Malaysia Today doesn't have a sports section . . .
Isa: Absolutely agreed that the sacking was the start of the rot. Remember attending me first ever tutorial at uni & guess what the fooking topic was in Constitunal Law? Yup, the then topic hangat of the sacking of a CJ in the Commonwealth nation of M'sia.
And guess who the tutor decides is the best person to explain the fiasco? . . . Fooking great start to me academic life, me tells you.
Malu gila. Felt like a guy from some lawless third world country with no respect fer the rule of law . . .(*penny drops*) . . . Wait a minute, we ARE a 3rd world country with fook all belief in the rule of law!
albertus: M'sia a Republic - Why the fook not? As fer a Malaysian Deep Throat spilling the beans on a high ranking official, me bet is on him taking Mr Ulan Bator down, not KJ (he's just a punk) who will self-destruct.
J or Ji: Korrek, Korrek, Korrek!
FFS me thinks ... that knowing RPK there's a udang sebalik mee magee goreng ok ..
The chap is tongue in cheek no holds barred ... perhaps we need to re-read between the lines ...
Although this be interesting no? All this time everyone kinda said Dr M screwed up the judiciary now it's the Agong of then??
OOOoooookkkaaaayyyy all I say is interesting times :)
anita: Yes, yes, like nickm has pionted out & have read other postings before. But this one has got me stumped, ok? Seriously, what is he trying to get at?
Pls do explain . . .
are YOU asking ME to explain RPK??
you kid me yaar! I have to first understand what I phreaking say half the time first to explain anyone else ;p
Let me in clear mind do a CSI type breakdown of his words - and see if there's any hidden clues in there.
I'll pencil you in for end of the month - the filo is full of translating English into English lately - am all Englished out ... except for (*ooops* wrong thread!)
may be it's bad satire. but quite a bit of it is far-fetched. and it gets him a good readership. really not worth the time thinking too much about it.
nick mun ... i second you on that :))
To speak of things republican is to speak of treason my friend. Choose your words well.
This country is not ready to for a ala French Revolution. And the French had to undergo 5 republican changes. Democracy is a dangerous thing if you do not know how to manage the masses or the mob.
We maybe educated ala Che Guevara or Thomas Paine. But mind you, regime change is not an easy thing to do. There will always be a revolution. Such is the history of man! The violent history of man.
Is RPK speakin from the after effects of the 7 million lawsuit ...
84-89 The YDP Agong was known to be ahem extremely kind..
1. Bro, he had JMF his own private army..to dish out his personal favours
2. He loves feeding N watching his crocodile eat...tells you much about him
and many more...ask anyone frm Johor..
getting irked b'coz someone complained abt his renovations could be true...
I can only say that the judge was quite lucky he didnt end up swimming in the pool or checking out the end of the golf stick...
albertus: Eh? No one is calling fer beheadings la. Me loyalties are to God & country . . .
anba: Everything leads back to the Raja Lanun . . .
nickm/anita: If that were the case, then RPK is no better than The Star (The Shite) . . . yes? no?
i guess it's wise to read and question than just read and believe blindly....
off topic, premo, how old are u..? do u happen to know a Yohannes?
I am for God, Country and King!
senorita: I'm 32 this year :) No I'm afraid that name doesn't ring a bell... dude could very well be my jr. back in EC - but the few that i know/keep in touch with are close to or already 30ish. Are you from JB as well?
i think RPK is more imaginative. the star? just a Government newsletter.
Errrr....this is the first time I've heard such a thing. As said, could just be an imaginative story but have a certain similar theme with another recent story he had about Patrick Lim & the Agong. Moral of the story being, "Don't mess with a royal or he'll be royally pissed & you'll be regally screwed".
PS. see me blog for updated pix on Mini...
premo & senorita: Perfect Strangers?
albertus: Sorry mate, canna really agree with you there. Bold pronounciations not not backed by any solid examples. A waste of tax payers money?
Bernard: Shame that RPK now seems to be guided by his own agenda rather than in seeking the truth.
Load of rubbish from Raja Petra...
azman: Finally, welcome to FFS. Bro, why can't UMNO & BN be full of reasonable people like yer goodself?
Haiyo, more like you, me also vote fer BN lar . . .
RPK's stories (that's what I like to call em) is sometimes far fetched..Dunno what to believe and what not to..I hardly give him the benefit of the doubt eventhough he was a fellow Victorian lol..
And to add to the sometimes-crap that he writes, you have all these cocksucking commentators who flame when someone has a diff opinion from RPK..But stories are nicer to read than facts rite?
This is what happens when there's no reliable & convenient source of alternative news. When you constantly feed people propaganda, one day people will believe any old shit & hearsay simply coz they are tired of the same old crap being dished out in the mainstream media.
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