Yes, it is payback time -- big time payback time. But it all depends on how far Tun Dr Mahathir wants to take these issues. The knife is in his hands. It is just whether he wants to use that knife to slit Tun Abdullah’s throat.
Raja Petra Kamarudin
There are 32 state assembly seats in Terengganu. 24 are under Barisan Nasional and the balance eight under Pakatan Rakyat. Yesterday was the second day of the three-day state assembly sitting but ten of the Barisan Nasional State Assemblypersons have refused to attend the session.
The ten Barisan Nasional State Assemblypersons, led by the previous Menteri Besar Idris Jusoh, said they are not boycotting the state assembly sitting as such. They just refuse to attend the state assembly until the police can guarantee their safety. It seems three of them have received death threats and they allege the death threats, which were sent via SMS, have been traced back to someone in the state government.
The Menteri Besar, however, says that the ten are boycotting the state assembly sitting and that he will not attempt to persuade them to end their boycott. In short, what the Menteri Besar is saying, the ten can go to hell. The Deputy Prime Minister has responded by telling the ten to not jeopardise the state government while the Prime Minister has ordered them to attend the last day of the session today.
PAS said if there is a vote of no confidence against the Menteri Besar they will support it. If that happens, then it will be eight opposition State Assemblypersons, plus ten from Barisan Nasional, to total 18 versus 14. That means Ahmad Said would be ousted from office through a vote of no confidence -- like what should have happened in Perak but did not because of the interference of the Perak Palace.
The ten, however, claim that there was never any intention to table a vote of no confidence against Ahmad Said in the Terengganu State Assembly. The reason they are not attending the assembly -- not to be interpreted as boycotting -- is because of the death threats they received from someone in the state government. The death threats, in turn, are because of the rumours that the ten intend to table a vote of no confidence against the Menteri Besar in the state assembly.
Very confusing isn’t it? Anyway, the long and the short of it is there is a crisis in the Terengganu State Assembly with ten on one side, 14 on another, and eight waiting to vote with the ten in the event there is going to be a vote of no confidence against the Menteri Besar.
Okay, forget about all that for the meantime. The issue that must not be forgotten is that Ahmad Said, head of the gang of 14, was personally appointed by the Sultan, in this case who is also the Agong. Idris Jusoh, on the other hand, head of the gang of ten, was rejected by His Majesty the Agong. Does this mean Umno is going to defy the Agong and oust Ahmad Said in favour of Idris Jusoh and risk triggering a Constitutional Crisis in Terengganu like what happened in Perak?
In the Perak Constitutional Crisis, Nizar Jamaluddin was accused of being a treasonous person (penderhaka) for opposing the wishes of the Sultan of Perak with regards to His Highness’ choice of Menteri Besar. What would we call Idris Jusoh and his band of merry men who also oppose the wishes of the Sultan of Terengganu with regards to His Majesty’s choice of Menteri Besar? Will, again, Umno carry placards labelling the Agong as ‘natang’ if His Majesty refuses to replace Ahmad Said with Idris Jusoh?
Yes, it’s payback time. But the question would be is it payback time for the Sultan of Terengganu or payback time for Umno or payback time for the Sultan of Perak who has just been shown that they don’t really need to agree to the Sultan’s choice of Menteri Besar after all -- like what they are doing in Terengganu?
And why does the Sultan not want Idris Jusoh as the Menteri Besar? The issue is quite simple really. From 2000 to 2008, Idris misused RM7 billion to RM8 billion of Terengganu’s oil revenue. The money did not go to the state. It went to Umno and Idris was the head of Umno Terengganu during that time. The Terengganu Monsoon Cup alone swallowed RM300 million a year over a period of three years. If you include the houses they built and so on, the total cost comes to RM1 billion.
read the rest of this article at: http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/20617/84/
Raja Petra Kamarudin
There are 32 state assembly seats in Terengganu. 24 are under Barisan Nasional and the balance eight under Pakatan Rakyat. Yesterday was the second day of the three-day state assembly sitting but ten of the Barisan Nasional State Assemblypersons have refused to attend the session.
The ten Barisan Nasional State Assemblypersons, led by the previous Menteri Besar Idris Jusoh, said they are not boycotting the state assembly sitting as such. They just refuse to attend the state assembly until the police can guarantee their safety. It seems three of them have received death threats and they allege the death threats, which were sent via SMS, have been traced back to someone in the state government.
The Menteri Besar, however, says that the ten are boycotting the state assembly sitting and that he will not attempt to persuade them to end their boycott. In short, what the Menteri Besar is saying, the ten can go to hell. The Deputy Prime Minister has responded by telling the ten to not jeopardise the state government while the Prime Minister has ordered them to attend the last day of the session today.
PAS said if there is a vote of no confidence against the Menteri Besar they will support it. If that happens, then it will be eight opposition State Assemblypersons, plus ten from Barisan Nasional, to total 18 versus 14. That means Ahmad Said would be ousted from office through a vote of no confidence -- like what should have happened in Perak but did not because of the interference of the Perak Palace.
The ten, however, claim that there was never any intention to table a vote of no confidence against Ahmad Said in the Terengganu State Assembly. The reason they are not attending the assembly -- not to be interpreted as boycotting -- is because of the death threats they received from someone in the state government. The death threats, in turn, are because of the rumours that the ten intend to table a vote of no confidence against the Menteri Besar in the state assembly.
Very confusing isn’t it? Anyway, the long and the short of it is there is a crisis in the Terengganu State Assembly with ten on one side, 14 on another, and eight waiting to vote with the ten in the event there is going to be a vote of no confidence against the Menteri Besar.
Okay, forget about all that for the meantime. The issue that must not be forgotten is that Ahmad Said, head of the gang of 14, was personally appointed by the Sultan, in this case who is also the Agong. Idris Jusoh, on the other hand, head of the gang of ten, was rejected by His Majesty the Agong. Does this mean Umno is going to defy the Agong and oust Ahmad Said in favour of Idris Jusoh and risk triggering a Constitutional Crisis in Terengganu like what happened in Perak?
In the Perak Constitutional Crisis, Nizar Jamaluddin was accused of being a treasonous person (penderhaka) for opposing the wishes of the Sultan of Perak with regards to His Highness’ choice of Menteri Besar. What would we call Idris Jusoh and his band of merry men who also oppose the wishes of the Sultan of Terengganu with regards to His Majesty’s choice of Menteri Besar? Will, again, Umno carry placards labelling the Agong as ‘natang’ if His Majesty refuses to replace Ahmad Said with Idris Jusoh?
Yes, it’s payback time. But the question would be is it payback time for the Sultan of Terengganu or payback time for Umno or payback time for the Sultan of Perak who has just been shown that they don’t really need to agree to the Sultan’s choice of Menteri Besar after all -- like what they are doing in Terengganu?
And why does the Sultan not want Idris Jusoh as the Menteri Besar? The issue is quite simple really. From 2000 to 2008, Idris misused RM7 billion to RM8 billion of Terengganu’s oil revenue. The money did not go to the state. It went to Umno and Idris was the head of Umno Terengganu during that time. The Terengganu Monsoon Cup alone swallowed RM300 million a year over a period of three years. If you include the houses they built and so on, the total cost comes to RM1 billion.
read the rest of this article at: http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/20617/84/
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