Why the Pakatan Rakyat government was brought down in Perak

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Monday, 19 October 2009 04:23

Nazrin’s succession to the Perak throne depends on the

goodwill of the federal government. But only if the state
government is a Barisan Nasional government will there be this
goodwill. If Pakatan Rakyat remains the state government, then
expect Nazrin to pay the price when his time comes to succeed
his father.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

W E ALL KNOW what happened in

Perak. What many do not know is
why it happened.

If you can remember, it took one week for the

Perak and Selangor state governments to get
sworn in after the March 2008 general election.
The Sultans of these two states wanted to first
‘discuss the matter’ with the Pakatan Rakyat
State Assemblypersons. The Sultans then set
certain terms and conditions before agreeing to
swear in the new Pakatan Rakyat state
governments.
This gap of one week allowed the old Barisan
Nasional state governments time to remove and
destroy quite a lot of very damaging evidence of
the wrongdoings of the previous governments.
The one-week delay also allowed Barisan
Nasional to negotiate the possibility of PAS
teaming up with Umno to form the state
governments in Perak and Selangor. Umno even
agreed that PAS would become the Menteris
Besar of these two states. And, to add icing to
the cake, Umno even agreed to allow PAS to
implement Islamic laws in these two states.
in Pakatan Rakyat, PKR and DAP, and they
declined Umno’s offer. Finally, the two Sultans
had no choice but to swear in the Pakatan
Rakyat state governments in Perak and
Selangor. But this did not stop them from
plotting behind the scenes on how to bring
down the governments.
The Sultan of Selangor was quite prepared to
consider the whole matter a fait accompli. After
all, Pakatan Rakyat in Selangor had a clear
majority and it would be quite difficult to buy
off so many State Assemblypersons. But Perak
was another matter altogether. Pakatan Rakyat’s
majority in Perak was thinner than in Selangor.
As soon as the new state government had been
put in place, the Sultan of Perak began asking
for this, that and the other. The Pakatan Rakyat
Perak state government would have been quite
prepared to tolerate some of the demands of the
Perak Palace for the sake of maintaining a good
relationship with the Palace. But what the
Sultan and his family wanted was just too
excessive and the Pakatan Rakyat Perak state
government had no choice but to say no to the
Sultan’s demands.

But PAS stayed loyal to their two other partners And this, of course, upset the Sultan. So, when

Why the Pakatan Rakyat government was brought down in Perak 1/3
Pakatan Rakyat lost its majority in the Perak
State Assembly, it did not take too much
persuading for the Sultan to agree to swear in a
new Barisan Nasional state government.
At first, the Sultan was not too sure whether he
should kick out the Pakatan Rakyat state
government in favour of a Barisan Nasional
government. When the Pakatan Rakyat Menteri
Besar, Nizar Jamaluddin, went before the Sultan
to request that the State Assembly be dissolved
to make way for fresh state elections, the Sultan
said he would think about it first. But
immediately after that the Prime Minister, Najib
Tun Razak, went to meet the Sultan and the
Sultan was persuaded to reject the Pakatan
Rakyat request to dissolve the State Assembly
and instead he swore in Barisan Nasional as the
new state government.
Najib’s ‘persuasion’ was simple. Nazrin, his
son, should not be the Raja Muda of Perak. And
this means he should also not be the next Sultan.
And in the event that the Sultan dies, as surely
he will one day, the federal government will not
support Nazrin as the next Sultan of Perak. See
what happened to Negeri Sembilan. Although
the Yamtuan appointed his son as the regent,
this does not mean he becomes the next
Yamtuan.
So, Nazrin’s succession to the Perak throne
depends on the goodwill of the federal
government. But only if the state government is
a Barisan Nasional government will there be
this goodwill. If Pakatan Rakyat remains the
state government, then expect Nazrin to pay the
price when his time comes to succeed his father.
Furthermore, the Sultan and his family has
asked for a lot of things from the Pakatan
Rakyat state government, all of which they
rejected. Umno will ensure that the Sultan and
his family get whatever they want if Barisan
Nasional takes over as the Perak state
government.
And with that Pakatan Rakyat’s fate was sealed.
The Sultan swore in Barisan Nasional as the
new Perak state government and Pakatan
Rakyat was sent into the opposition aisle.
Why the Pakatan Rakyat government was brought down in Perak
What was it that the Sultan and his family
wanted which Pakatan Rakyat said no to and
which Barisan Nasional has now said yes? Yes,
let us see how in just a few months the Sultan
and his family has suddenly become one of the
richest royal families in Malaysia, of course, at
the expense of Pakatan Rakyat.
1. Umno gave the Sultan a piece of state
land known as lot 183578. The land is
approximately 600 acres in size and is at
Tanjong Tualang in the district of Kinta.
This land has been parked under the
name of the Sultan’s proxy, Mohamed
Khaair Johari Hj Osman.
2. Umno gave the Sultan a 1,000-acre
timber concession along the 11km
Gerik-Kupang highway in Ulu
Kenderong, Gerik, Hulu Perak. This
concession was originally given to
Universiti Utara Malaysia. However, it
was later revoked and given to Pusat
Kreatif Kanak-Kanak whose Chairman
is Raja Datuk Seri Ashman Shah Ibni
Sultan Azlan Shah.
3. Umno gave the Sultan seven timber
concessions at compartments 39, 41, 42,
43, 44, 45 and 49 in the Kenderong
Forest Reserve in Hulu Perak. The seven
lots, which come to approximately 600
acres, were parked under two proxy
companies of the Sultan -- Syarikat
Zotonjaya Sdn Bhd and Kibaran Wang
Sdn Bhd.
4. Umno is about to approve a proposal for
reforestation involving 10,781 hectares.
5,781 hectares is at the Gunung Besout
Forest Reserve in Southern Perak while
5,000 hectares is at Pondok Tanjung in
the Larut Matang district. The company
that will get this huge project is
Permatang Utama Sdn Bhd (company
registration number 513583-D) whose
Executive Chairman is Datuk Seri Ismail
Farouk Abdullah, the Sultan’s son-in-
law.
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 5. Further to that, Datuk Seri Ismail Farouk
Abdullah was allowed to take over the
state-owned Casuarina Hotel in Ipoh for
a negotiated cut throat price of only
RM43 million whereas it can fetch a far
higher price on the open market. The
hotel is located in one of the most prime
land in Ipoh and just the empty land
alone is worth a huge amount of money.
It is not that the Perak Royal Family is destitute.
It is more like they are greedy. Raja Datuk Seri
Eleena Azlan Shah is a
Director of GAMUDA
BERHAD and is
Malaysia's 25th richest
person I with assets
worth over RM 773
million. This makes
her the second richest
woman in Malaysia
after Puan Sri Chong Chook Yew, who occupies
the number 18 slot with more than RM 1 billion
in assets.
Gamuda Berhad has been awarded more than
RM10 billion worth of contracts. It also
operates and maintains 230 kilometres of
highways plus is a major township and property
developer with four township projects involving
more than 30,000 houses.
So there you have it. Perakians, in particular the
Malays, think that the opposition is not showing
the Sultan of Perak the respect he deserves.
What they do not know is the Sultan does not
deserve any respect. And many are also not
aware why the Sultan wanted Pakatan Rakyat
kicked out of Perak.
Now, we hope, they do.

The children of Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Yussuf
Izzuddin Shah Ghafarullahu-Lah, the Sultan of Perak

From left: Tunku Datuk Seri Kamil Tunku Rijaldin and his wife Raja Datuk Seri Yong Sofia, Datuk Seri Mohd Salleh
Ismail and his wife Raja Datuk Seri Azureen, Raja Muda Perak Raja Dr Nazrin Shah and his wife Tuanku Zara Salim,
Raja Kechil Tengah Perak Raja Datuk Seri Ashman Shah and his wife Datin Seri Noraini Jane, Raja Datuk Seri Eleena
and her husband Datuk Seri Ismail Farouk Abdullah.

http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/27901/84/

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