Sultan played his cards skilfully

He is no novice in the game of thrones.

When PKR sacked Khalid Ibrahim from the party, the Sultan of Selangor knew that it was game over for the 14th Menteri Besar (MB) of Selangor. It was no longer a question of whether Khalid would have to go. It was a question of when and how plus who should replace him.

The Selangor State Constitution puts certain things beyond the control of a Sultan. However, there are certain things that fall within his powers and prerogatives.

He has very skilfully played his cards, so that his critics were only able to point out what he should “morally” do rather than what he should “legally” do.

And this was what all those senior lawyers and constitutional experts did when they spoke to the press. They constantly reminded the Sultan about what he should morally do in the selection of an MB to replace Khalid.

In terms of seniority, the other eight Malay rulers consider the Sultan of Selangor as second only to the Sultan of Kedah. This is because he became the Raja Muda of Selangor way back in 1960.

That was more than half a century ago. Hence, he is no novice when it comes to playing the game of thrones. He observed what the rulers did as well as the mistakes they made, which were many. And he swore that he would not blunder like they did.

No doubt it was Pakatan Rakyat that nominated Khalid as the Selangor MB in 2008. However, the Sultan made one thing clear to Khalid: the party can only nominate the MB but it is the Sultan who appoints him.

The MB does not pledge loyalty to the party. He pledges loyalty to the Sultan, the state and the rakyat. Once he is an MB, the party is no longer important to him.

And this was exactly how Khalid ran Selangor. He gave his allegiance to the Sultan, the state and the rakyat and practically ignored what Anwar Ibrahim and the party wanted.

And this was why Anwar and the party wanted Khalid out.

The Sultan, however, refused to accept Khalid’s resignation. He wanted to first resolve the issue of the successor. Only when Khalid’s successor had been decided would he agree to Khalid’s resignation.

The reason for this is that he would not accept an Anwar nominee. The new MB must be someone who, like Khalid, is prepared to pledge loyalty and allegiance to the Sultan, the state and the rakyat.

And that was why it took a long time to decide who the new Selangor MB would be.

Azmin knew he was going to get the job (which he had wanted even in 2008) only if he was prepared to agree to the Sultan’s condition that he be the MB of the Sultan and not the MB of Anwar or PKR.

We shall see over the next 100 days what type of MB Azmin is going to be. Is he going to be the Sultan’s MB or Anwar’s MB? And the way Azmin conducts himself will determine whether the MB’s office is going to have a good relationship with the palace or whether we are going to see conflict between the MB’s office and the palace every step of the way.