The Malaysian Insight

THE monarchy has survived for several hundred years by choosing their battles carefully.

Taking on a popular prime minister who came into office with a powerful mandate to reform decrepit Malaysia didn’t seem sensible.

Going head-on with a prime minister who had the Federal Constitution on his side and who always seems to be the last man standing after political battles just didn’t seem prudent.

So, early this morning, the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong announced in a statement that he had consented to Tommy Thomas becoming the new attorney-general (A-G).

The Malaysian Insight understands that PKR de-facto leader Anwar Ibrahim played a pivotal role last night in convincing the King that the legal and prudent thing to do was to end the standoff with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The King had reservations about a non-Malay A-G looking after Malay interests. Anwar assuaged those concerns.

But even if the King was unmoved by Anwar’s cogent arguments, he would have to face his brother rulers who have been quick to sense a change in the mood of Malaysians since GE14.

Perhaps, one day in future when the euphoria of the polls has died down and Dr Mahathir no longer has a cache of goodwill, confronting the PM on a specific issue may seem attractive.

Not now.

And definitely not on an issue that has not even caught fire with the extreme fringe groups. Sure, there have been some online postings, online petitions against Thomas, ‎but by and large, the response from the Malay ground has been muted. There have been no protest marches, etc.

Dare we dream that this tepid response is another sign of a country re-born or is it just a manifestation of Umno and the right being in disarray following the defeat of Barisan Nasional in GE14?

‎In the final analysis, this was a battle the Malay Rulers could not have won.

Not against a PM with the law on his side and popular sentiment in his corner.

‎So what’s next?

The standoff over the appointment of the new A-G was the second time in less than a month that Dr Mahathir has been kept waiting by the King.

He had to wait until 9.30pm on May 10th to be sworn-in and that too after backroom drama and shenanigans.

Dr Mahathir is in a hurry to reform and revive Malaysia. He is not going to be frustrated or allow the legal powers of his position to be called into question every few months.

Not going to happen.

For the royalty, this means appreciating that there is a new man in Putrajaya.

The royals played an out-sized role during the Najib Razak years because a weak and scandal-tainted PM ‎ceded space and authority to them during his days in office.

Mahathir 2.0 has too many things on his plate to worry about the Malay Rulers. He has a short runway to complete what is proving to be a gargantuan task of cleaning up Malaysia and finding new streams of economic reforms that bring prosperity to the masses.

The royals need not fear Dr Mahathir.

They just must remember not to get in his way when he is exercising powers assigned to the PM by the Federal Constitution. – June 5, 2018