KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — An eyebrow-raising secession post by the younger brother of Johor’s crown prince has been pulled from Instagram today shortly after it was highlighted by the media.
Tunku Idris Sultan Ibrahim had posted on his @tunku_idris account at the photo-sharing site Sunday that the southern state will secede from Malaysia if the conditions upon which Johor had joined the federation are violated.
Among the conditions he listed included making Islam the religion of the state, the state’s absolute right over water and land issues, and the state royal house to have its own armed forces.
It is unclear what prompted Tunku Idris to make the post, amid a public spat between his older brother Tunku Ismail and Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz from Umno who reportedly told Tunku Ismail to stay out of politics or Putrajaya will “whack” him.
Tunku Idris’ Instagram post had drawn over 4,000 “likes”, with one Instagram user, shelly860714, commenting: “Johor out from Malaysia and grow stronger...perhaps better than now…”
Tunku Ismail had commented on Facebook on June 5 about Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s absence at the “Nothing to Hide” forum that was cancelled at the last minute before a confrontation between Najib and his harshest critic, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Some 2,000 people rallied outside the Johor palace yesterday in support of Tunku Ismail.
