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Saturday 12 June 2010

Of Jui Meng and Karpal: A blot on the Sultans, Umno and MCA

Johor Umno has denied it was one of the batu apis that instigated the Sultan to withdraw the two datuk titles awarded to Chinese leader Chua Jui Meng, while Palace officials have declined to give any explanation at all.

But coincidence or not, both the secretary of the Johor Council of Royal Court, Abdul Rahim Ramli, and Johor Umno information chief, Samsol Bahari Jamali, have made remarks that eerily echoed each other.

It is the prerogative of the Sultan to do so and the issue should not be politicized by anyone.

Were they reading from a script? Maybe, maybe not. One cannot help but wonder what MCA president Chua Soi Lek – who is widely believed to have been the other batu api – would have to say now!

Yet, does it really matter? Given the track record of the BN, would anyone really believe a word they say anymore?

Look at the Perak crisis and how they ruthlessly bulldozed white into black and black into white in true Malaysia Boleh fashion. But do what they will, the law of physics cannot be bent. For every action there is a reaction and what goes around comes around. And that could be why instead of a Malaysia Boleh we are now staring at the prospect of a Malaysia Bankrap!

Niat jahat

The good news though is that DAP chairman Karpal Singh managed to get the most ridiculous sedition charges ever contrived struck off by a surprisingly fair-minded High Court judge. Must be Karpal’s lucky day!

His case also involved royalty – the Perak Sultan, no less. Imagine the amount of time that Karpal – an MP as well as a state assemblyman – had to waste on the case. And all because some people including a reporter who did not under English well jumped to the conclusion that he had uttered seditious words at a press conference conducted in English.

Was the court case the fault of the reporter, whose English was so weak she did not know that ultra-vires does not mean to insult? No, but it is certainly the fault of the Attorney-General for not recognizing this fundamental flaw and insisting on taking the case to court. At the very least, it shows utter negligence and sheer shoddiness on his part. And at the worst, it reflects the shocking amount of evil intent or niat jahat in the BN system.

So why did the AG and his bosses do what they tried to do to Karpal? Were they trying to send a message of fear to scare Malaysians – especially the non-Malays – into not speaking up and not questioning what, how and why did the Sultan of Perak do what he did to Nizar Jamaluddin and his Pakatan Rakyat state government?

What goes around comes around

No wonder then that most Malaysians, including many Malays, no longer believe a word they read or a sound they hear anymore from the BN – whether Umno, MCA, MIC or their East Malaysian partners.Yes, the damage is done.

But for Jui Meng, he can walk away chin up and standing tall. His party, his community, those who know him and those whom he has helped throughout his long career are behind him.

He never intended not to return the titles to the Sultan as Umno's Samsol has suggested, he just wanted to know why. After all, is there any real value anymore in a datukship, a tan sri-ship or even a tun-ship for that matter?

But what has real currency though is his track record of service to the people and at 67, Jimmy Chua Jui Meng certainly doesn’t suffer from a weak resume.

http://malaysia-chronicle.blogspot.com/2010/06/of-jui-meng-and-karpal-questionmark-on.html

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