King's Consent Of Najib As PM? Maybe, Maybe Not!

The suspense is coming!

In less than 24 hours, Abdullah Badawi and Najib Razak will head to the King's palace where Abdullah seek the King's consent for him to resign and hand the reigns of power to Najib as the next PM. With many expecting this to be a simple and easy transition, that is why many invitations were sent out to MPs and Ministers inviting them to go to the palace on Friday morning for the swearing in. But that invitation was premature, and note that the invitation was not issued by the palace, but it had the government's insignia on it. Which means, the King's consent isn't available yet but there are people parading their asses out on the road as if Najib is officially acknowledged as the PM.

But the suspense on this episode is on whether the Agong will 'perkenan' and accept Abdullah's resignation and then consenting Najib as the next PM or otherwise.

For me, it's not the "I hope" answer but the thing is Najib might not be PM because Agong is likely to say 'beta tak perkenan'.

Remember the Constitution

Article 43(2)(a) of the Federal Constitution provides that the Yang di Pertuan Agong shall appoint a Prime Minister “who in his judgment is likely to command the confidence” of the Dewan Rakyat.

Remember that the Agong cannot be forced to act on the PM's orders, but can do so on the PM's advice. There is no mention that the UMNO president must be PM! Hey, even a gardener in the Parliament can be appointed PM, or any MP or maybe another fellow royalty - there is no mentioning of UMNO man must be PM!?

I've been told that Abdullah has briefed his Majesty of the role that he is entitled to do so and it will be up to to his Majesty's discretion on saying yes to Najib as PM or otherwise. Who knows that Abdullah could have been cautioning the King on Najib earlier on so that thing earlier on could be taken into consideration before the decision is taken. Given that the current Agong is well educated and born post Merdeka, there's hope that his Majesty would make a well thought out decision.

Also, refer back to the phrase 'confidence of the Dewan Rakyat'. To become PM, the man must have at the confidence of 2/3rds of MPs in Parliament. I've also been told yesterday that the level of confidence of Dewan Rakyat for Najib as PM is only at the meager 18%. 182 of 222 MPs, including Abdullah himself and Pakatan MPs are not in favor / not confident of Najib as PM, which means trouble.

Given of the camps fighting one another at the UMNO assembly, the big part half of the 182 MPs comes from splintered camps who are now behind Abdullah given the allegedment that Muhyiddin won against Mike Tyson via vote manipulation.

You Need an Impeccable Leader

To the eyes of the world, a leader of a nation must be impeccable. But then Najib is not impeccable for through international media the world knows that Najib is still linked and connected to the Altantuya murder. The case, could be taken to the World Court in The Hague and the King sees this scenario of a leader connected to a unsolved murder as doesn't bode well for the nation.

Remember that he hasn't officially say his word until tomorrow at least. From what I've been told, it is possible that king could call for a Royal Commission to investigate and clear Najib of any wrongdoing - which is the best measure a ruler could do. But the time taken, if a Royal commission takes place would take about six months from start. If that is the case, the six months from that day on can be considered as a care-taking period. The King may ask Abdullah Badawi to continue for a further six months until investigations on Najib are completed and him being cleared properly.

If you appoint a leader who is believed to be involved with a murder, of course he / she is inviting unhappy people to pelt them everywhere as what happened to Karpal Singh on Sunday!

There are some people who do know how Najib engineered the BN's illegal takeover in Perak, via blackmailing a fellow royal member as in Sultan Azlan Shah. That could be seen as the King as somewhat an insult to royalty. Then who is the real penderhaka? Or..during the opening of the second Parliament session last month, I was told the speech read by the Agong was prepared not by himself but by quarters close to Najib, that's if I am right, but at that time, His Majesty might have to play low but the end thing is that the King, given of all the events linking to Najib isn't confident / happy of consenting him as PM.

Who Else?

Should the King says 'Beta tidak perkenan', he would be picking someone else. Let's say if Abdullah Badawi politely tells the King that he doesn't want to continue, he could be picking Ku Li, or even Anwar Ibrahim as PM or someone else. It's his choosing and the King is not going to be happy if MPs start behaving like Idris Jusoh's bunch of yahoos in KT, calling the King as animal.

Hey...if Ku Li or Anwar is chosen, UMNO is screaming to them as traitor to the Malays given of their outspoken nature of criticizing their own race.. If the Agong happened to say that Koh Tsu Koon as PM, UMNO will make noise...ai yo yo..Chinese as PM? Get real..anyone can be PM as long as he has the confidence of the Dewan Rakyat, remember?

Eyes Wide Open

The UMNO Youth and Women Wings are occupied by Abdullah's underlings, including his son-in-law Khairy. That is more or less a check measure on Najib's men given that most of them occupy VPs, DPs, and Supreme Council member seats.

The Last Word

Just wait until tomorrow, the suspense is still there. Who knows, divine intervention could happen tomorrow. Let's find out together tomorrow, shall we?