Things are looking ominous.
YAB Nizar has not been granted an audience with the regent, and we have no assurance he will be any time soon.
Surely it is not overreacting to suspect that we are seeing holding patterns and delaying tactics. Maybe there is even disagreement between father and son as to how to handle this crisis.
It saddens me to see the monarchy dredged through the mud in this way. Now, for a brief window of time, the Perak monarchy has once again the perfect reason and opportunity to redeem itself and the reputation of the monarchy nationwide: to use the recent court ruling as a basis to dissolve the state assembly.
Perhaps some will argue of the need to go through the entire legal appeal process, which may drag on indefinitely. Others say certain elements of the monarchy are biased towards one party or another.
In truth, I don’t have any problems with these things in and of themselves. We can respect the judicial process, and even allow for freedom of political association.
But the question Raja Nazrin must answer to his conscience and to all the people of Malaysia is: is it morally right to deny the people of Perak fresh elections?
Can Raja Nazrin posit a single objective, rational argument as to how the best interests of the Perak rakyat are served by *not* having fresh snap elections at this point?
If he cannot, then try as we might, it will be impossible to tell people that the monarchy is not aligned to certain vested interests; that it has not placed the needs of its subjects below other opaque needs.
I never expect people to act outside their self interest, especially people in positions of power. But surely anyone can see that the long term interests of the Perak monarchy are best served by serving best the interests of the Perak people, via dissolution of the state assembly. Any other conclusion regrettably suggests short-sightedness and fuels persistent and unfading rumours (think Altantuya) of factors purposely kept secret from the public.
It bears repeating, ad nausuem, and until the point is heard clearly: Snap elections are the only neutral, fair solution that will grant morally consistent, politically viable and democratically sound satisfaction to every single stakeholder in the current Perak crisis.
We are open to hear any and all arguments to the contrary. Whatever legal jargon, whatever old records people want to spin about crossovers, etc, we invite Najib, Zambry, and any single soul who is against snap elections now, to produce a reasoned argument - any reasoned argument at all - as to how snap elections do not provide fair and neutral satisfaction to all parties involved.
Failing which, it will fall upon the rakyat to assume that we are being oppressed and robbed of justice, to remember the actions of our leaders for all eternity, and to act accordingly to defend our democratic rights.
YM Raja Nazrin, I have no doubt that you and your family know what the right course of action is. Do right by your subjects in their hour of need, ensure the good name of yourself and your royal house forever.
Update: Tulang Besi offers one other viable solution - have the three (maybe even four) jumpers resign their seats and have by-elections in those three constituencies. Not ideal, but acceptable!
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