Transmenu powered by JoomlArt.com - Mambo Joomla Professional Templates Club

©The Star (Used by permission)

• Umno division wants probe against Karpal expedited
• Royal Court rebukes Karpal

KUALA LUMPUR: DAP chairman Karpal Singh acted with lack of political wisdom when he chose to publicly question the Perak Sultan over the royal jurisdiction of Islamic matters in the state.

“Karpal Singh may be right in law, but this is not merely a legal question. It involves politics, therefore, I disagree with the approach taken to openly challenge the royal intervention,” said DAP central executive committee member and Selangor Speaker Teng Chang Khim.

Administratively, said Teng, he agreed the Perak Mentri Besar had the authority over the transfer of state civil servants.

“But, the state constitution provides that the Sultan is the head of the religion of Islam. This involves the question of constitution and politics. it is not wise to raise issues like these, especially knowing that Umno will pick on it and turn it into a racial issue,” said Teng.

It would be more correct, said Teng, for Karpal Singh to raise his opinion behind closed doors with the palace.

“The Sultan of Perak is a legal expert, to discuss the matter within four walls would have been fine,” said Teng.

Umno division wants probe against Karpal expedited

KOTA BARU: Several members of the Umno Kota Baru division urged the police yesterday to expedite investigations into DAP chairman Karpal Singh’s alleged insult of the sovereignty of the Malay Rulers.

Division committee member Wan Mokhtar Wan Ab Rahman, acting as their spokesman, said that Karpal Singh should be charged in court if he committed an offence and it should be done soon to avoid the issue from becoming counter-productive to the country.

Wan Mokhtar claimed he has accumulated 118 signatures from members in 119 branches, who are demanding that action be taken against Karpal Singh for his apparent ignorance over the sovereign status of the Malay Rulers.

“We should take action against all parties including Bukit Gelugor MP (Karpal Singh) for trying to undermine national unity and our Rulers,” he told a press conference here.

Wan Mokhtar has also appealed to the Prime Minister and party president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to reinstate Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Senator Datuk Zaid Ibrahim as Kota Baru division head after he was removed in 2005 for breaking party campaign regulations.

He said this would prevent an all-out contest from breaking out in the division, given that Umno was already weakened by the results of the general election.

The current acting division head is Datuk Mohd Fatmi Che Salleh, the political secretary to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Royal Court rebukes Karpal

PETALING JAYA: The Royal Court of Selangor has rebuked DAP national chairman Karpal Singh for purportedly implying that the Sultan of Selangor was interfering in executive matters of the state.

The royal court said in a statement yesterday that as the Sultan, it was perfectly within the constitutional parameters for Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah to express his views and make opinions concerning any matter pertaining to his subjects.

The royal court has said that the statement purportedly made by Karpal Singh as reported in The Malay Mail on May 6 was very misleading.

The statement was quoted as implying that the Sultan was interfering in executive matters of the state.

“Such a baseless, unfounded and irresponsible statement has indeed brought much concern and uneasiness,” it said.

“The royal court believes that Karpal Singh’s statement was somewhat made to create a misconception in the minds of the rakyat as to the role of the Sultan, who was merely exercising his rights as enshrined in the state Constitution.”

“The Sultan in his weekly meetings with the Selangor Mentri Besar has always given his views and advice on matters of importance to the people of Selangor. At the same time the Sultan has always maintained a neutral stance and has always upheld his detachment of any political preference or of interference with executive matters,” it said.

The royal court emphasises that the Sultan is politically impartial.

“It is the Sultan’s right to express his opinions on Government policy and there is no legal constraint for the Sultan to express opinions concerning any matter within the parameters of his domain, namely the state’s affairs.”

As a constitutional monarch, the Sultan has the right to be consulted, the right to advise, and the right to warn,” it said.

Among the members of the royal council are Tan Sri Mohd Azmi Kamaruddin, Tan Sri Abu Hassan Omar, Jen (Rtd) Tan Sri Mohd Hashim Mohd Ali, Tan Sri Syed Yusof Tun Syed Nasir, Datuk Abdul Halim Abdul Rauf and Datuk Paduka Raja Wan Mahmood Pawanteh.

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed