By Stephen Ng
A Kadir Jasin’s recent article on the huge sums purportedly spent on the Yang di-Pertuan Agong should never have raised any alarm.
It is the last thing that Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun should be wasting hours of police time investigating, especially when there are more urgent cases involving Jamal Md Yunos, Musa Aman, Low Taek Jho and the mysterious disappearances of Pastor Raymond Koh and several others which have yet to be solved.
As a veteran journalist, Kadir would be expected to raise concerns that any ordinary Malaysian would express about the high cost of maintaining the palaces.
With the recent austerity drive, the Agong himself has offered to take a pay cut of 10%. If I may also suggest, such a measure should be undertaken not only by the Agong, but also by all their Royal Highnesses and their palace staff, to show that the king and the Malay rulers are with their people. Long live the king!
Kadir was appointed a spokesman for the Council of Eminent Persons, but he wrote this article in his personal capacity. If this cannot be accepted by PKR de facto leader and prime minister-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim, when will we ever be a fully democratic nation?
I have been an ardent supporter of Anwar since 2008, but in this respect, I think he has gone a little too far in protecting the interests of the royalty at the expense of the rakyat. It’s a difficult balancing act because under the Federal Constitution, we have the constitutional monarchy to protect, and Anwar would want to gain the trust of the Malay rulers.
As one writer, Puthan Perumal, put it, “there is a constitutional safeguard to all these rights, and the Yang di-Pertuan Agong has no cause for concern”.
I have read through Kadir’s post again and again – no where did he slander the Agong or the Malay rulers. As a concerned and thinking person, Kadir was merely questioning the heavy expenditure on the Agong alone during the era of former prime minister Najib Razak.
To any ordinary Malaysian, spending RM256.9 million in just 16 months is surely a huge amount. This is nearly half the cost of Istana Negara, which was estimated to cost RM650 million to build.
After all, it is the taxpayers’ money which the former administration should be accountable for.
While we uphold the Federal Constitution in which the institution of the monarchy is enshrined, we also urge the government to henceforth control the excesses spent on the palaces. Instead, provide more avenues for the sultans to get close to the ordinary rakyat and endear themselves to the people.
Stephen Ng is an FMT reader.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.