theSun | TUESDAY FEBRUARY 17 2009
speak up!
Scene: Dome, KLCC
CHONG: Never before have I read
so much and heard so much about
penderhaka, treason, lese majeste
and rebel. These last few weeks the
newspapers are replete with such
words. By the way Cikgu what is
the actual meaning of penderhaka?
Zain: Am I back in the class-
room?
Mohan: You’ve never left it,
Cikgu. Anyway Chong, the root
word is durhaka which can mean
to disobey or to rebel.
Azman: Taboo for the Malays.
Mohan: A worst thing that can
happen to a son is when he is called
or branded an anak durhaka.
Azman: It is a taboo thing for a
Malay to durhaka as encapsulated
in the phrase pantang Melayu men-
durhaka.
Zain: I think they say it only
when it is convenient for them to
do so.
Mohan: As I was saying when
you durhaka against your king you
are said to commit lese-majesty. A
person who does that is a pendur-
haka.
Zain: In the days when kings
and sultans had absolute power
to be branded a pendurhaka was
the end of you. You are dead meat.
Everyone would be out looking for
you. Killing a pendurhaka was not
a crime and what more you could
even receive an award.
Chong: In Thailand lese-maj-
esty is still a major crime. You can’t
go about insulting the king, his
queen and his son. You’ll end up in
serious trouble if you do.
Mohan: Very true. Thailand’s
constitution says: “No person
shall expose the King to any sort
of accusation or action.” Also
Of daulat and Hang Jebat
the Thai criminal code lawyer Karpal Singh to
further states in Article challenge in court the
112: “Whoever defames, Perak sultan’s sacking
insults or threatens the of the Pakatan Rakyat
King, Queen or the Heir- government. He is a
apparent, shall be pun- pendurhaka, he is be-
ished with imprisonment ing disrespectful.
of three to 15 years.” Zain: No Azman.
Azman: Don’t we have He is not. And Karpal
similar laws in Malaysia? wasn’t being disre-
Someone told me we spectful at all when he
have. You cannot show WhatTheySay said he was going to
disrespect to the king and challenge the sultan’s
by Zainon Ahmad
the state rulers. And you decision in court. If
cannot go around saying you are talking about
you want to take legal being disrespectful to
action against a state ruler. the rulers just remember the two
Zain: You must have been mis- so-called constitutional crises and
led. Unfortunately, many people the nationwide rallies that ran
also have. There are no such laws. down rulers in efforts to get them
Am I right counsellor? to agree to have their immunity
Mohan: Absolutely. For instance trimmed. Remember the Malay
in 1966, Datuk Stephen Kalong films on TV during that time. All
Ningkan challenged the proclama- making the rulers look bad. One
tion of an emergency in Sarawak of them was Nujum Pa’Belalang. It
by the Yang diPertuan Agong. was about how a village layabout
Chong: Isn’t that lese-majesty? fooled the ruler and later mar-
Mohan: No. Remember our ried his daughter. Of course there
much respected late Lord President were those who said the timing
Tun Muhamed Suffian Hashim. He was coincidental. But a series of
said a ruler is liable especially in them? And remember what was
view of the fact that in his oath said about the ruler of Terengganu
of office he has declared that he when he rejected the prime minis-
would carry out his duty in accord- ter’s choice of mentri besar? Think
ance with the law, which means Azman, think.
he is subjected to the law. Others Azman: But the rulers represent
have since said that the rulers have the Malays, Malay culture, Malay
always been liable anyway. They rights. And by challenging the sul-
are constitutional monarchs. tan he is challenging the Malays. I
Azman: What you guys are say- am angry.
ing is that it is all right for veteran Zain: Don’t be. While a ruler
represents all that is Malay he is
also head of state. Karpal is only
challenging the ruler’s prerogative
as head of state.
Azman: Let me remind you
of Hang Jebat. He was probably
the first pendurhaka. And he was
killed. Then there was laksamana
Megat Sri Rama who stabbed his
ruler. With his last bit of strength
the dying ruler flung his kris at his
killer. Grass sprouted out of the
wound on laksamana’s leg and he
died a painful death days later.
Zain: Those were part of the
legend to add to the ruler’s daulat
– the aura of magical power. The
Malay Annals tells of a story of the
first ruler from whom all others are
descended. He came from a magi-
cal kingdom and was descended
from Alexander the Great through
a Raja Chulan from India.
Mohan: Isn’t daulat sover-
eignty?
Zain: Not in those days. In those
days a ruler’s daulat was the aura
of magical power that he was said
to possess and that surrounded
him.
Chong: No grass sprouted out of
Ningkan’s ears?
Zain: Very funny. Anyway today
our rulers are constitutional mon-
archs and their power or daulat
rests with the rakyat. So Azman
please tell your friends that the Ma-
lays are not threatened just because
Karpal said he wanted to institute
legal action against the ruler. They
are threatened by other things.
11
letter
letters@thesundaily.com
Sultan has
‘reserved powers’
MANY are unaware that the Sultan
of Perak has what is called “reserved
powers”.
This “reserved powers” are the
Sultan’s inherent powers that he
inherits which he may use upon his
discretion at any one time to prevent
any crisis that might jeopardise the
stability and peace of his state.
After the general election last
year, the Raja of Perlis and the
Sultan of Terengganu also used
their “reserved powers” to appoint
mentris besar of their choice, even
though it went against the choice of
candidates of Prime Minister Datuk
Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Every
state in the federation has its own
constitution besides our Federal
Constitution.
However, literal interpretation
of each state’s constitution with-
out taking into account the rulers
“reserved powers”, will only cause
much dissatisfaction and confu-
sion.
These “reserved powers” are
ambiguous and surrounded by grey
areas in every state’s constitution
because it is not evoked at all times.
Therefore, when a situation arises
and the rulers evoke these powers,
they seem to have gone against the
democratic will of the people.
We must always realise that the
rulers do play an important role in
maintaining harmony among vari-
ous races under their care.
Vijay Shanmugam
Taiping