Sunday, August 12, 2007

Long Live our Sultans!

Recently, I've become increasingly convinced that our next political battleground, will be the Internet. Although we can say that most of our pakcik and makcik in the kampung don't have the benefit of the Internet, you can be sure that they know someone who does. And this is having our government running scared. They were late to the party and have not gained sufficient control of this political battleground.

The more blogs I read on the Internet, the more I have come to realise that the Internet enabled Malaysian generation isn't satisfied with the way things are going in our country. This sentiment is expressed by people from all races and walks of life. I can sense that a political war is brewing, with the old political parties on one side, against a Netizen army on the other side, being led by our Sultans.

I find it curious that this particular news being published online, did not make it into the mainstream media. From what I can gather from the article, our Majlis Raja-raja (Conference of Rulers) aren't particularly happy with the way things are going in the country. They are not blind to the cries of the rakyat and have already lost confidence in the way our Prime Minister is mishandling the country. Maybe this explains why the Conference had unprecedentedly rejected our PM's recent nomination for Chief Justice of Malaya, which has sent our Government scrambling for damage control.

Leading the way for our Rulers is DYTM Raja Dr Nazrin Shah, the Crown Prince of Perak. Like the other popular politicians recently, he graduated with a degree in PPE from Oxford. But unlike the others, he also has a PhD in Political Economy and Government from Harvard. He is a good example of what a good ruler should be. Check out his official title: Duli Yang Teramat Mulia Raja Muda Perak Darul Ridzuan Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah Ibni Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin D.K., D.K.II (Selangor), D.K.S.A, S.P.C.M, S.P.T.S, S.P.M.P. (Perlis), Ph.D (Harvard).

He has constantly called for the Constitution to be strictly adhered to and for everyone to be treated equally. His most famously called for all Malaysians to be treated equally and not be made to feel like foreigners in their own home. He seems particularly well attuned to the feelings of the rakyat for someone who had been born into a life of luxury. Unlike most other thinking Malaysians, he has legal immunity, which is a good thing. So, he can officially tell off the government, and work against them, without having to sweat over potential legal retribution.

I rest well in the knowledge that the the Netizen army will ultimately win. You see, there are soldiers fighting on the side of the establishment with a lot of big guns and power. The Netizen army, is an army that has no weapons except it's voice. However, it is an army of volunteers, while the soldiers are paid to fight. This alone, tells you who will win. It's inevitable. DYTM Raja Nazrin should get himself a blog. I'm sure that the people would scrutinise every single word. Quoting HRH:

"Only those who are capable, responsible and scrupulously honest should be allowed to serve in positions of leadership. Those who are inefficient, incompetent and, most importantly, corrupt, should be held in absolute contempt."
PS: As a thought, maybe it's time for us to revert back to a system of monarchy. A just monarchy is certainly better than a corrupt democracy.

UPDATE@1615: I wonder if anyone had ever toyed with the idea of a democratic monarchy (i.e. a king voted in by the people). It's something that we could easily work with in Malaysia. Our king is already voted in by the Conference of Rulers. Every 5 years, get the rakyat to vote in the best Sultan to be King with the powers of an absolute monarch.

PPS: In case anyone misunderstood. This blog is not a call to arms or anything like that. I'm just stating that DYTM Raja Nazrin is a cool dude and that the Internet will win!

UPDATE@0100+1: Even the Sultan of Selangor has raised concerns with regards to various potentially sensitive issues. But since he enjoys immunity, he's free to voice them out without fear.

5 comments:

Gabriel Wu said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Shawn Tan said...

wah, you're not scared your gahmen catch you for talking like that??

Gabriel Wu said...

hm...yeah.

Unknown said...

eh? What was the comment supposed to be there?
Hmm... the juicy bit got removed by the author.

Shawn Tan said...

well, Gab has to be careful of what he says about the Sporean Gahmen..