THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

By: Raja Petra Kamarudin
We all know what happened in Perak. What many do not know is why it happened.
If you can remember, it took one week for the Perak and Selangor state governments to get sworn in after the March 2008 general election. The Sultans of these two states wanted to first ‘discuss the matter’ with the Pakatan Rakyat State Assemblypersons. The Sultans then set certain terms and conditions before agreeing to swear in the new Pakatan Rakyat state governments. This gap of one week allowed the old Barisan Nasional state governments time to remove and destroy quite a lot of very damaging evidence of the wrongdoings of the previous governments. The one-week delay also allowed Barisan Nasional to negotiate the possibility of PAS teaming up with Umno to form the state governments in Perak and Selangor. Umno even agreed that PAS would become the Menteris Besar of these two states. And, to add icing to the cake, Umno even agreed to allow PAS to implement Islamic laws in these two states.
But PAS stayed loyal to their two other partners in Pakatan Rakyat, PKR and DAP, and they declined Umno’s offer. Finally, the two Sultans had no choice but to swear in the Pakatan Rakyat state governments in Perak and Selangor. But this did not stop them from plotting behind the scenes on how to bring down the governments. The Sultan of Selangor was quite prepared to consider the whole matter a fait accompli. After all, Pakatan Rakyat in Selangor had a clear majority and it would be quite difficult to buy off so many State Assemblypersons. But Perak was another matter altogether. Pakatan Rakyat’s majority in Perak was thinner than in Selangor. As soon as the new state government had been put in place, the Sultan of Perak began asking for this, that and the other. The Pakatan Rakyat Perak state government would have been quite prepared to tolerate some of the demands of the Perak Palace for the sake of maintaining a good relationship with the Palace. But what the Sultan and his family wanted was just too excessive and the Pakatan Rakyat Perak state government had no choice but to say no to the Sultan’s demands. And this, of course, upset the Sultan. So, when Pakatan Rakyat lost its majority in the Perak State Assembly, it did not take too much persuading for the Sultan to agree to swear in a new Barisan Nasional state government. At first, the Sultan was not too sure whether he should kick out the Pakatan Rakyat state government in favour of a Barisan Nasional government. When the Pakatan Rakyat Menteri Besar, Nizar Jamaluddin, went before the Sultan to request that the State Assembly be dissolved to make way for fresh state elections, the Sultan said he would think about it first. But immediately after that the Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak, went to meet the Sultan and the Sultan was persuaded to reject the Pakatan Rakyat request to dissolve the State Assembly and instead he swore in Barisan Nasional as the new state government. Najib’s ‘persuasion’ was simple. Nazrin, his son, should not be the Raja Muda of Perak. And this means he should also not be the next Sultan. And in the event that the Sultan dies, as surely he will one day, the federal government will not support Nazrin as the next Sultan of Perak. See what happened to Negeri Sembilan. Although the Yamtuan appointed his son as the regent, this does not mean he becomes the next Yamtuan. So, Nazrin’s succession to the Perak throne depends on the goodwill of the federal government. But only if the state government is a Barisan Nasional government will there be this goodwill. If Pakatan Rakyat remains the state government, then expect Nazrin to pay the price when his time comes to succeed his father. Furthermore, the Sultan and his family has asked for a lot of things from the Pakatan Rakyat state government, all of which they rejected. Umno will ensure that the Sultan and his family get whatever they want if Barisan Nasional takes over as the Perak state government.
And with that Pakatan Rakyat’s fate was sealed. The Sultan swore in Barisan Nasional as the new Perak state government and Pakatan Rakyat was sent into the opposition aisle.
What was it that the Sultan and his family wanted which Pakatan Rakyat said no to and which Barisan Nasional has now said yes? Yes, let us see how in just a few months the Sultan and his family has suddenly become one of the richest royal families in Malaysia, of course, at the expense of Pakatan Rakyat.
1. Umno gave the Sultan a piece of state land known as lot 183578. The land is approximately 600 acres in size and is at Tanjong Tualang in the district of Kinta. This land has been parked under the name of the Sultan’s proxy, Mohamed Khaair Johari Hj Osman.
3. Umno gave the Sultan seven timber concessions at compartments 39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 and 49 in the Kenderong Forest Reserve in Hulu Perak. The seven lots, which come to approximately 600 acres, were parked under two proxy companies of the Sultan -- Syarikat Zotonjaya Sdn Bhd and Kibaran Wang Sdn Bhd.
4. Umno is about to approve a proposal for reforestation involving 10,781 hectares. 5,781 hectares is at the Gunung Besout Forest Reserve in Southern Perak while 5,000 hectares is at Pondok Tanjung in the Larut Matang district. The company that will get this huge project is Permatang Utama Sdn Bhd (company registration number 513583-D) whose Executive Chairman is Datuk Seri Ismail Farouk Abdullah, the Sultan’s son-in-law.
5. Further to that, Datuk Seri Ismail Farouk Abdullah was allowed to take over the state-owned Casuarina Hotel in Ipoh for a negotiated cut throat price of only RM43 million whereas it can fetch a far higher price on the open market. The hotel is located in one of the most prime land in Ipoh and just the empty land alone is worth a huge amount of money.
It is not that the Perak Royal Family is destitute. It is more like they are greedy. Raja Datuk Seri Eleena Azlan Shah is a Director of GAMUDA BERHAD and is Malaysia's 25th richest person with assets worth over RM 773 million. This makes her the second richest woman in Malaysia after Puan Sri Chong Chook Yew, who occupies the number 18 slot with more than RM 1 billion in assets. Gamuda Berhad has been awarded more than RM10 billion worth of contracts. It also operates and maintains 230 kilometres of highways plus is a major township and property developer with four township projects involving more than 30,000 houses. So there you have it. Perakians, in particular the Malays, think that the opposition is not showing the Sultan of Perak the respect he deserves. What they do not know is the Sultan does not deserve any respect. And many are also not aware why the Sultan wanted Pakatan Rakyat kicked out of Perak.

Now, we hope, they do.