Commotion in Tampin as cops bar N Sembilan chieftains from attending special meet

A minor commotion occurred at the entrance of the tunku besar Tampin’s office this morning as two Negeri Sembilan territorial chieftains were barred by police from entering the premises.

The 9am incident occurred when the Undang Luak (chieftains) of Johol and Jelebu arrived for a special meeting with other state customary leaders, which they called to discuss and end the ongoing Negeri Sembilan royal dispute.

Sources also indicated that the leaders were expected to hold an official proclamation for a new state ruler, replacing Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir, whom they decided to sack in April.

As the chieftains, Muhammad Abdullah of Johol and Maarof Rashad of Jelebu, made their way into the premises, Tampin district police Amiruddien Sariman and several other officers were seen guarding the entrance and did not allow them entry.

This led veteran politician Rais Yatim, who was accompanying the chieftains, to question the police action.

“... you are stopping people from entering the premises of an institution that is empowered under Article 18 of the Negeri Sembilan state constitution.

“These are the Undang Luak of Johol and Jelebu, who are state dignitaries. They are the co-rulers (of the state).

“This is unprecedented, and without any notice. What you are doing is worse than the communists. What offence are we committing here? These are the royalties of the Negeri Sembilan,” Rais was heard telling the police.

The commotion lasted about 10 minutes before the Tunku Besar Tampin, Syed Razman Syed Idrus, came to the entrance and spoke to Amiruddien.

Syed Razman told the senior officer that he had already spoken to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the inspector-general of police, who supposedly ordered the police to stand down.

Meeting cut short

However, despite the Undang Luak eventually being allowed to enter the premises, they had to cut short the meeting due to the absence of the “new ruler”, Tunku Nadzaruddin Tuanku Ja'afar.

This came as Tunku Nadzaruddin, whom the chieftains had publicly named as Tuanku Muhriz's replacement, was allegedly barred by police from leaving his hotel room in Alor Gajah, Malacca, this morning.

Rais, speaking to reporters outside the Tampin office later, slammed the police over the heavy-handed tactic, claiming it amounted to "false imprisonment".

"The new 'Duli Yang Maha Mulia' wanted to leave his hotel to come here, but he was barred from doing so.

"This itself is an offence. They wanted to take him to Kuala Lumpur. On what grounds?

"Every individual has their personal liberty; they cannot be kept like this. In legal terms, such an act is called false imprisonment. But this happened, which I believe is like the law of the jungle," he said.

The undangs and Rais later rushed to the hotel to meet Nadzaruddin.

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