I refer to the Malaysiakini report PM wades into royal tussle .

It is time that Malaysians do realise that when the Federation of Malaya was consitituted, the signatories to the Declaration of Independence were the Malays, Chinese, Indians and the Malay Rulers. Hence the Rulers have every right to determine the course of the Federal Constitution as do the political parties in power be they PAS, DAP, PKR or Umno.

The Rulers are not static players as they were deemed to be for the past 20 years and it was a unpopular wrong notion then. Our rulers have active participatory responsibilities vis-a-vis the constitituion.

The dragging issues in Trengganu (which was then part of the Unfederated Malay States) is because the state has its own problems in terms of appointing the Menteri Besar. The process of appointing the Menteri Besar lies in agreements that formed the Federated and Unfederated Malay States rather than in the Federation of Malaysia constitution. We have to study the implications rather seriously.

Hence as Malaysians, we must bear and realise that even local government and housing developers’ regulations were only introduced into Kelantan and Trengganu as late as 1996 although the laws were passed in 1976.

A streamlined and unilateral procedural safeguard for all the states cannot alone bring about a concoction of a true Malaysia as most of us of do expect. Penang was a Straits Settlement before it was included in the Federation of Malaya and then the Federation of Malaysia. The state of Sarawak was ruled by a White Rajah for a long period of time and Sabah by the North Borneo Company.

Our history has too many different tentacles. Hence in the light of these issues, Malaysians must caution their sentiments and give due respect and tolerance to all facets of the making of the Malaysian nation if we are to be a successful nation state.

This is also the time that Malaysians should understand as a learning process the appointment of the menteris besar in Perlis, Selangor, Perak and now Terengganu. In the case of Terengganu, the political parties really do not have any kind of jurisdiction over the appointment of the menteri besar.

It is solely the prerogative of His Royal Highness. In the Unfederated Malay States, the Rulers still weild considerable power and authority.