KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 — If the Johor royalty wants respect and acceptance from the people, they must know their role as state ruler and not interfere in the country’s administration, Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof said today.
Asked to comment on the disagreement between the Johor royalty and the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration, the Entrepreneur Development Minister emphasised that the royals must know their role as rulers.
“If they want to be accepted and respected by the people, they have to sit there as a ruler. Don’t interfere in administrative issues, you cannot interfere with the country’s constitution,” he told a special press conference in connection with the first anniversary of PH in power.
Redzuan said those who did not agree with the Constitution should study the supreme law of the country again.
“The one doing all the talking is a young person. He has to know what happened in the past and understand that people today want an administration based on the country’s Constitution.
“My advice to those who don’t agree with today’s Constitution, they have to open the book and learn (it) properly all over again,” he said.
Redzuan went on to say that the lack of knowledge about the direction of PH administration’s transformation was the reason why certain quarters made noise and used it as an opportunity to seek absolute power.
“It’s a waste of time if we react to quarters who have less knowledge in what the people want and the direction we are working towards.
“The message I want to tell certain quarters who still want absolute power is that we are a country that practices democracy. So stick to your given powers and respect the Constitution,” he said.
Redzuan also reminded that the PH government supported the constitutional monarchy.
“We want to support the constitutional monarch, but they have to reciprocate and respect what we want too… we do respect them and we want to support them too.
“That’s why I said everyone must be given an understanding and education to have a right thinking. That includes everyone, even the King,” he said.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s leadership was put under the microscope again by Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Ibrahim in recent weeks ahead of Pakatan Harapan’s first anniversary.
On Sunday, Dr Mahathir said that only the people could remove him, after the Crown Prince was filmed saying in a video that the Prime Minister should be changed.
In response, Dr Mahathir reportedly said: “He thinks he is someone big, but he is just a small fry. If he thinks he’s big, go and vote and bring me down.”
Dr Mahathir and the Johor royal family have had tense relations that go back decades.
They clashed this month over Putrajaya’s planned accession to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and over who had the final say in appointing Johor’s new Mentri Besar to head the state government.
The government later decided to withdraw from ratifying the Rome Statute following claims that acceding to the convention was unconstitutional.
