Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said that “this is the decent thing to do, but also the only way out of a crisis which has already spiralled out of Perak, damaged the rule of law, compromised the judiciary, the police and the state civil service, and damaged the monarchy in public opinion.”
The Kelantan prince defended the institution of the Malay Rulers when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Umno moved to curtail the powers of the constitutional monarchs in the 1980s and 1990s.
But he has been critical of the power grab in Perak, arguing all along that the move to force Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin out of office was unconstitutional.
He maintained that Nizar is the MB until he resigns or is removed by a vote of no-confidence in the assembly.
He noted that after three months and shameful scenes in Perak, the High Court judge Datuk Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim affirmed this same elementary principle.
“The High Court has thereby affirmed the primacy of the Constitution. This judgment brings to a head some of the consequences of our constitutional misadventure in Perak.
“The government led by Datuk Seri Zambry was all along illegitimate and all decisions and contracts made by that government are without legal status.
“It means the resolution to replace the Speaker was brought by an illegal state government.”
Yesterday, the High Court ruled that Nizar was still the MB of Perak, pointing out that he could only be removed by a vote of no-confidence in the assembly.
This ruling rendered a directive by the Sultan for Nizar to resign after purportedly losing the confidence of the majority of lawmakers as null and void.
Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said that the monarchy has been hurt by this episode as well as by the “systematic programme to inflame this issue into one of race and religion.”
“Such attempts only hurt the institutions they claim to protect and they hurt Umno and BN. The real issue was always the Constitution and the Rule of Law. Umno is not well served by leaders that place short term political objectives above the Constitution.
“Our ideals are cheated when the monarchy we claim to protect is brought down to the level of desperate political manoeuvres that discredit us at home and abroad.
“We have no future as a party if we are seen as against the people rather than for them, “ he said, drawing reference to attempts by Umno leaders to paint Nizar as a traitor for refusing to accept the Sultan’s directive for him to step down as MB.
In the campaign for the Bukit Gantang by-election, the Umno party workers portrayed Nizar as a lackey of the Chinese.
“Those unable to rise above narrow party interests to understand what happens to a country when a government loses respect for the law might want to consider this: it is better for BN to risk state elections that we may lose rather than to lose the entire country by being seen to be opposed to decency, the rule of law and the will of the people,” said the veteran Umno politician, who did not receive sufficient nominations to contest the party’s top position.
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