translation The Sultan of Johor violated the Federal Constitution by speaking at the Umno 60th anniversary celebrations held in his palace grounds last week, claimed an opposition party today.

PAS Youth chief Salahuddin Ayub (left) said the constitution forbade the monarchy from participating in the activities of political parties.

The celebrations were held at the Johor palace as it is the birthplace of the party. Umno was formed by Onn Jaaffar in1946.

Salahuddin accused Umno of 'using' the Sultan and school students in the state to ensure the success of the event.

"This is clearly against the rules, where no political party should use the palace and school pupils for political purposes," he told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Exams cancelled

According to the opposition leader, SK(P) Sultan Ibrahim Johor Bahru had declared last Thursday a public holiday for its students to allow them to attend the function.

PAS Youth had learnt that the students were supposed to have sat for an examination on that particular day.

Salahuddin said even the parents were in the dark over the decision to cancel the examination.

In view of this, he added that PAS Youth had sent a letter to the state education department demanding an explanation.

"This is very unfortunate since Johor's achievements in the PMR, SPM and STPM examinations were far behind compared to other states," he noted.

The PAS leader also took a swipe at Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also Umno president.

He said the premier kept insisting on a transparent administration but his party 'breaks the law and gets away with it'.

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