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Sultan’s discretion should be in Azizah’s favour

YOURSAY ‘Why prolong the agony? Remote control or not is irrelevant.’

 

'No way remote control MB can take office'

Jesse: The sultan's discretion in appointing an MB is in relation to someone who commands the confidence of the majority in the state assembly. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

If no one else other than PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail meets that criteria, then that discretion needs to be exercised in her favour. There is no provision that requires the majority party to send in more than one name but in due deference to His Royal Highness, it may do so at His request.

 

But if no one is in that position except Wan Azizah, then it is merely an academic exercise. Why prolong the agony? Remote control or not is irrelevant.

 

In my personal view, Wan Azizah is as qualified and potentially better than any other existing MB in the nation. She is well educated, honest, clean and has the rakyat's well-being at heart. What's wrong with that?

 

Disqualify her just because she is the wife of the opposition leader? That's nonsense and gutter politics that seems to only happen in Bolehland.

 

Ourvotesdecide: The Selangor palace must clarify on the reports in the media quoting an alleged "source from the Selangor palace" saying this and that about the purported stand and concerned of the palace on the issue of the replacement and appointment of the Selangor MB.

 

It would be good and in the best interest of all parties, particularly Selangoreans, if HRH could now proceed to determine who has the support of the majority of the Selangor State Assembly members and then formally appoint that person as replacement of former MB Khalid Ibrahim so that the administration and development of Selangor could proceeds/runs smoothly.

 

If she/he is proven incapable or incompetent, the Selangor State Assembly members can always ask HRH to call for a meeting of the State Assembly to pass a vote of no confidence on the new MB.

 

Or come the next general election, let the voters decide. To leave this appointment question undecided for so long is and will be bad for the people of Selangor.

 

Pemerhati: The Selangor palace source is talking nonsense. The source does not even know the simple fact that the constitution does not allow the sultan to select the MB.

 

In the present case, he has to appoint Wan Azizah as the MB because she has the support of the majority of the elected representatives. If the sultan refuses to appoint her, by giving reasons not stipulated in the constitution, he will be acting unconstitutionally and this will spark a constitutional crisis.

 

If it does come to that, then one has to ask why the sultan is emboldened to act in that manner. The obvious public perception would be that he is being remote controlled by Umno to act unconstitutionally.

 

SSDhaliwal: The palace source said under the Selangor constitution, in Articles 51(1), 53(2)(a), (4) and 55 (2)(a), the sultan is given absolute discretionary power to appoint someone with the majority support of legislature as the menteri besar of the state.

This clearly states it must be Wan Azizah as she commands the majority in the state assembly. Any other innuendos besides this fact is irrelevant and mere conjecture.

 

Quigonbond: The question of remote control is really a red herring. Are we really sure if PM Najib Razak is not remote controlled? Are we really sure none of the BN CMs or MBs are remote controlled by the federal government?

 

So where does the sultan draw the line between absolute remote control or partial remote control? How sure is he that Wan Azizah is a drone and does not have a mind of her own at all?

 

Besides, it's not as if Wan Azizah runs the state alone. And it's not necessary that she has all the technical skills. That's why she has her team of exco and civil service. It's her ability to moderate that matters more, and she has certainly held her own in PKR on that score.

 

I find the palace's defiance to abide by constitutional convention most disturbing, assuming this talk about rejecting Wan Azizah is true. Even if the sultan agrees to statewide elections, when Pakatan returns to power, they will still nominate Wan Azizah.

 

Rick Teo: Whether it is remote control or not, the basic question is whether Azizah have majority support in the Dewan. If she has, the sultan has no option but to appoint Wan Azizah as MB.

 

The sultan has no authority to appoint anyone he pleases if that person do not enjoy any majority support. The palace source should remind him that he is only a constitutional monarch and not an absolute monarch.

 

U-Say I-Say: The fear is that the remote controller is Anwar Ibrahim, right? Malaysians are ready to have him as PM, so what's the big fuss if he will be actually running Selangor.

 

Ratbatblue: This "source" certainly misrepresents the palace and what the sultan has said. Most likely, this source has been "employed" by certain quarters to deliberately mislead the lay public and to paint a negative picture of the state government to be.

 

The palace is not known to issue such direct political statements for or against any political faction, and to directly state that Wan Azizah would be under "remote control" is far fetched.

 

The fact remains that Wan Azizah clearly commands support of the majority and this alone qualifies her for the job at hand. Who is to say that she would be manipulated by others?

 

Nes: Wan Azizah is a qualified doctor. She was an elected member of parliament. She was an elected president of an opposition party, PKR. She was an elected opposition leader in Parliament. She is an elected state assembly person. She is the elected MB-designated of Selangor.

 

She is 'clean' as far as I know. She is much better than most of our politicians I wouldn't care to mention. How can she be remote-controlled?

 

Abasir: A question that also begs an answer is whether the remote-controlled paper ( The Star ) is being used to instigate the people against the sultan by impugning that he is already biased against Wan Azizah.

 

If I recall, the so-called mainstream media in 1993, (remote controlled by Mahathir-controlled Umno) ran a series of articles, news reports and editorials demonising the royalty just before the passing of the infamous constitutional amendment.

 

Drngsc: Dear HRH, please appoint for the people of Selangor, the person who commands the confidence of the majority of the state assembly. Please help us respect the state constitution.

 

We need your wisdom to end this Selangor MB saga. Please do not allow yourself to be dragged into the politics by some irresponsible elements. Please be wise.

Vijay47: The Star in reporting the latest twist to the MB uncertainties, quotes abundantly from a conveniently anonymous source.

 

One can equally argue that the statements attributed to His Highness are of a sort that no sane person, least of all a ruler, would make. Thus, will The Star be now charged for sedition for bringing the sultan's person to disrepute?

 

In his wisdom, the sultan would never draw a conclusion from baseless assumptions, he would obviously know that Azizah is a leader in her own right and to suggest that she would be controlled, remotely or otherwise, would be to display a lack of faith and confidence in the gentler gender.

 

On the contrary, Malaysians are more familiar with relationships where the wife wears the Armani pants in the house.


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