Even before the body could get cold

His Royal Highness Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, Malaysia’s 11^th King, died on Wednesday, 21 November 2001. Rumours had been floating around since early morning that the King had died. This, however, could not be confirmed and phone calls to the palace did not help either, as the palace would just deny that the King had died.

Some Reformasi supporters who were at the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) office delivering an anti-ISA petition when news first broke rushed to the Gleneagles Hospital in Jalan Ampang. At 11.00am, one of the members of the Royal Family came out to announce that the King had died. Phone calls were made and SMS messages sent and, like wildfire, news spread that it was now confirmed – the King had died.

At 11.45am, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammad arrived at the hospital and, according to witnesses, stayed for only about two minutes. At around 1.30pm, TV3, the UMNO-controlled television station, announced that the King had not died and urged all Malaysians not to listen to rumours.

There was now utter confusion. For more than two hours, messages were being passed to and fro that the King had died. Now a government television station denies it as rumour. What was really going on? Barely a few minutes later, the Prime Minister came on the air to announce to the nation that the King had, in fact, died. He died at 11.57am said the Prime Minister.

Again, utter confusion. Those who were outside the Gleneagles Hospital said they were told at 11.00am that the King had died. Mahathir did not arrive at the hospital until 11.45am and left before 11.50am. If the King had died at 11.57am as Mahathir claimed then the Royal Family member who announced the King’s death at 11.00am was wrong and the King actually died seven minutes after Mahathir left the hospital. Or is it Mahathir who was wrong?

Anyway, the actual time the King died is one mystery. Why anyone would want to lie about the time he died is beyond me and can only mean that, as usual, political intrigue is at play. What is a bigger mystery is why all these denials? Even after it was already known that the King had died the palace still denied it. When I phoned the palace at around noon someone at the other end of the line was extremely rude and curtly told me “takdelah”.

Even after I had identified myself, the person who attended to me did not show the proper courtesy and respect. I can only assume he was very irritated due to the numerous phone calls he had received that morning. My brother told me he too had phoned the palace to confirm the “rumour” and the person who took his call very rudely told him off.

What was totally irresponsible was TV3 telling the nation not to listen to rumours though, by then, everyone knew the King had died. TV3’s announcement caused a stir as many had passed messages down the line confirming the matter and, now that TV3 had stated otherwise, they panicked as they thought they had passed false messages. Then, before anyone could react and send out “corrections”, the Prime Minister came on the air to confirm what TV3 had denied.

Of course, most were relieved that it was true and that they had not been a party to spreading false news, but in the same tone, they were very angry as they felt they were being played around with. Why did TV3 need to announce that the King had not died when in fact he had and make this announcement barely minutes before the Prime Minister’s confirmation on top of that?

So it was confirmed – the King had died. But before the King’s body could get cold, Rais Yatim, the de facto Law Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, tells Malaysians that this does not necessarily mean the Deputy King, HRH the Sultan of Terengganu, would take over as the new King.

Couldn’t Rais Yatim have the decency to at least allow the King to be buried first before quarreling over the succession? The King was still lying on his deathbed and already a political issue was being made over who the next King should be. Now all Malaysians are speculating that the Sultan of Terengganu is going to be bypassed in favour of the Raja of Perlis for political reasons.

The story making its rounds is that the Sultan of Terengganu is very close to Abdul Hadi Awang, the Chief Minister of Terengganu. As Terengganu is under the opposition PAS government, this therefore makes the Sultan an opposition supporter. The fact that the Sultan and Hadi hugged each other when the Chief Minister first took office is being used as “proof” of this closeness.

Rais Yatim has no business commenting on who the next King is going to be. This is a matter for the Conference of Rulers to discuss and only the rulers, and no one else, have the power and authority to decide on the succession. Rais should just shut his trap and not interfere in royal matters that do not concern him. Can you imagine what would happen if one of the rulers was to publicly comment whom the next President of UMNO should be? There would be anti-monarchy demonstrations on the streets – all organised by UMNO of course.

It’s also not fair that politicians can say whatever they like about the monarchs but the monarchs cannot do anything about it. Politicians can make press statements but the monarchs are not allowed to talk to the press. It is therefore a one-sided fight. While the politicians can slam the monarchs, the monarchs are compelled to remain silent.

Actually, we don’t even know whether the Sultan of Terengganu wants to sit on the throne as King. At 38 years old, he is still young and has plenty of time to think about being King. After all, a King’s job is rather boring and you would be under government control – something a young and vibrant sultan would find stifling.

Malaysia has nine Sultans who take turns to become King. After all nine have sat on the throne, the cycle starts again. The first King came from Negeri Sembilan and so did the tenth King. The second King was from Selangor and so was the eleventh King. After Selangor was Perlis. Therefore it makes sense that the next King comes from Perlis and not Terengganu.

In fact, five of the rulers have already sat on the throne as King. Therefore, if they become King again, this would be their second round. The only Sultans who have not yet become King are Perlis, Kelantan, Terengganu and Selangor. Kelantan is the most senior of the lot so, if seniority were taken into consideration, then the next King should be the Sultan of Kelantan - unless they want to stick to turns, then it would be Perlis.

Anyhow, whatever the case may be, because of Rais Yatim’s premature announcement, if the next King is not the Sultan of Terengganu, then people are going to say that the government purposely blocked the Sultan for political reasons, just like how the Attorney general was removed.