".. PAS tidak pernah sekali-kali mengeluarkan kenyataan bahawa pihak istana khasnya Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di Pertuan Agong terlibat dalam apa bentuk sekalipun, dalam menjayakan Perhimpunan Aman BERSIH pada 10 November 2007 yang lalu. Perhimpunan tersebut adalah perhimpunan aman masyarakat sivil, iaitu rakyat Malaysia yang bangun menuntut hak mereka bagi memulihkan sistem pilihanraya, iaitu tonggak amalan demokrasi negara, yang terbukti semakin tercemar dan tempang.
Melalui gabungan BERSIH, PAS bersama-sama 60 NGO dan parti-parti politik yang lain telah turun ke Kuala Lumpur untuk berhimpun secara aman dan menyerahkan memorandum tuntutan atas nama BERSIH kepada Seri Paduka Baginda Yang Di Pertuan Agong atas keyakinan bahawa Tuanku adalah payung dan pelindung rakyat dalam keadaan rakyat mula mencurigai sistem pilihanraya yang dikendalikan oleh pihak Suruhanjaya Pilihanraya Malaysia (SPR).
Adapun kenyataan yang dikeluarkan oleh Setiausaha Agung PAS, YB Dato' Kamarudin Jaffar Isnin lepas, bermaksud bahawa BERSIH telah terlebih dahulu menerima perkenan dari Baginda untuk menyerahkan memorandum rakyat jelata itu ke Istana Negara pada hari Sabtu berkenaan. PAS tidak pernah mendakwa yang Tuanku terbabit dalam Perhimpunan Aman BERSIH itu atau Tuanku bersetuju di atas kandungan memorandum BERSIH. BERSIH berlapang dada atas apa sahaja tindakan yang bakal Tuanku ambil terhadap memorandum tersebut.
PAS menyeru agar jangan ada mana-mana pihak cuba melaga-lagakan di antara rakyat jelata dengan Seri Paduka Baginda atau Raja-raja Melayu atau pihak istana. PAS tidak pernah dan tidak akan sekali-kali memperjudi atau menggadaikan kesetiaanya kepada Raja dan Negara...."PRESS STATEMENT FROM BERSIH
(Read here or HERE in English from Malaysiakini)"...Gabungan Pilihanaya Bersih dan Adil (BERSIH) menegaskan bahawa kami tidak pernah menyatakan bahawa memorandum yang diserahkan kepada Yang DiPertuan Agung 10 November lalu mendapat berkenan Seri Paduka Baginda. Rakyat Malaysia bebas untuk memberi petisyen kepada Agung kami pada bila-bila masa atas hal-hal yang berkepentingan awam, termasuk pilihnaraya yang bersih dan adil, satu keadaan di mana Seri Paduka Baginda Yang DiPertiuan Agung sudah semestinya bersetuju.
BERSIH sekali lagi mengucapkan terima kasih kepada pihak Istana kerana kesudian mereka menerima permohonan bertulis kami bagi memohon temujanji pada 5 petang 10 November 2007 bagi menyerahkan memorandum. Kami juga berterima kasih atas permintaan pihak Istana senarai nama delegasi yang bagi menyerahkan memorandum kepada wakil Yang DiPertuan Agung yang dihantar pada Jumaat, 9 November 2007.
Akhirnya, BERSIH ingin mengucapkan terima kasih kepada Seri Paduka Baginda Yang diPertuan Agung kerana berkenan menerima memorandum melalui wakil yang dilantik pada 10 November 2007 lalu.
Sebagai warganegara Malaysia, adalah menjadi harapan bahawa Seri Paduka Baginda terus memainkan peranan yang diperuntukkan dalam Perlembagaan Persekutuan. Dengan cara itu, hak-hak dan kepentingan seluruh rakyat Malaysia dilindungi dan memastikan integriti di institusi kita.
Bagi pihak kami, BERSIH akan terus berjuang ke arah sebuah pilihanraya yang bersih dan adil dan bagi demokrasi tulen di Malaysia.."
Today’s press announcement did NOT come from The Agong.
Today’s announcement is by the Datuk Pengelola Bijaya Diraja, an official of the Istana Negara office, (and) NOT the Keeper of the Royal Seal.It (is) the Keeper of the Royal Seal whose job it is to make official statements on behalf of The Agong.
The Istana Negara Office comes under the Prime Minister’s Department and the people in that Office are planted there by the Prime Minister’s Department to be the eyes, ears and sometimes mouth of the government as well.
This Datuk Pengelola Bijaya Diraja chappie is a most unpopular personality in the Palace office..."
-Raja Petra Kamaruddin
Background:
Bernama reported:
" Yang di- Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin has expressed regret over claims that he and the Palace approved and supported Saturday’s illegal rally in the city.
In a statement issued here today by the Datuk Pengelola Bijaya Diraja of Istana Negara, Datuk Wan Mohd Safiain Wan Hasan, the King also regretted the gathering which was organised by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) and supported by the opposition parties.
Tuanku Mizan stressed that he and Istana Negara had at no time approved or given any support, directly or indirectly, to any quarters that organised or was involved in the illegal assembly or any other activities that contravened the law...."Malay Version reported by Bernama:
Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin melahirkan rasa kesal dengan dakwaan kononnya baginda dan Istana Negara memperkenankan dan menyokong satu perhimpunan haram di sini Sabtu lepas. Dalam satu kenyataan yang dikeluarkan oleh Datuk Pengelola Bijaya Diraja Istana Negara Datuk Wan Mohd Safiain Wan Hasan hari ini, Seri Paduka Baginda juga melahirkan rasa kesal dengan perhimpunan itu yang dianjurkan oleh satu kumpulan dikenali Gabungan Pilihan Raya Bersih dan Adil (BERSIH) yang disokong parti-parti pembangkang.
Dalam kenyataan itu, Tuanku Mizan menegaskan bahawa baginda dan Istana Negara tidak pernah pada bila-bila masa jua memperkenankan atau memberikan apa-apa sokongan secara langsung atau tidak langsung kepada mana-mana pihak yang menganjurkan atau terlibat dalam perhimpunan haram itu dan apa-apa jua kegiatan lain yang berkaitan yang menyalahi undang-undang negara...."
Excerpts: Read here full article on Malaysia-Today
by
Raja Petra Kamaruddin
Today the Government of Malaysia tried doing a "David Copperfield" on us.
“Tuanku Mizan Regrets Claims He Supports Illegal Rally,” screamed the Bernama headlines. The Malay version said, “Tuanku Mizan Kesal Dakwaan Baginda Sokong Perhimpunan Haram.” Both versions can be read Here and Here.
To the layman, this sounds very serious indeed.
Datuk Pengelola Bijaya Diraja
(It is a title of )a very ‘high-ranking’ Istana Negara official named Datuk Wan Mohd Safiain Wan Hasan. He has issued the statement on behalf of The Agong.
Who is this guy anyway? He hails from Terengganu and works for the Prime Minister’s Department.
(Update from Malaysia-Today: "...If you check Wan Mohd Safiain’s identity card number, 461214035359, you will discover that he is an UMNO member. His membership number is 03728983 and he is a member of Umno Cawangan Taman Desa Minang, Gombak Setia, Gombak. Wan Mohd Safiain is not the official spokesman of The Agong. He who speaks on behalf of the Agong is the Keeper of the Royal Seal. Secondly, would not an announcement from an unauthorised source who is an Umno member be viewed as vested interest?)
(Image courtesy of "Malay Women in Malaysia" Blog)
(Note: Is it ethically correct to place someone with a clear political affiliation with a Political Party (ie UMNO) over in Istana Negara? Read here for more )
The Istana Negara office comes under the Prime Minister’s Department and the people in that office are planted there by the Prime Minister’s Department to be the eyes, ears and sometimes mouth of the government as well. And today we saw an example of how it has become the mouth of the government.
Today’s press announcement did NOT come from The Agong.
Today’s announcement is by the Datuk Pengelola Bijaya Diraja, (and) NOT the Keeper of the Royal Seal. It did NOT even come from the Keeper of the Royal Seal whose job it is to make official statements on behalf of The Agong.
It came from a glorified chamber maid planted in the Palace as an enemy in the blanket. These are the worst kind of slime-balls and scumbags. They smile and call you friend. Then they stick a dagger in your back.
This Datuk Pengelola Bijaya Diraja chappie is a most unpopular personality in the Palace office. Everyone in the Palace office knows he has been planted there as the eyes and ears of the government. And his job is not only to keep a watch on things and report back to the Prime Minister’s office whatever is happening in the Palace, but he has also been tasked with the job of frustrating every effort of The Agong in interacting with the rakyat (citizens).
Flashback: Incident in November 1999
I remember relating an incident which happened way back in November 1999, a few days before the Tenth General Election.
In November 1999, I was tasked with the job of delivering a letter from Barisan Alternatif to the Istana Negara requesting an audience with The Agong then, my uncle. I delivered the letter at noon on Friday and went off to the mosque for my Friday prayers.
When I went back to the office around 2.30pm there was a reply waiting for me in the fax machine turning down our request for an audience, with a suggestion that we try again after the general election.
Our letter was addressed to The Agong. The reply came from the Prime Minister’s Department.
The Agong never got to see the letter and was not even aware that one had been sent. And that was probably the fastest reply ever from a government department in Malaysia’s entire history.
Delivering BERSIH'S MEMORANDUM
That is why it was not wise to quietly deliver the BERSIH Memorandum to The Agong. If that had been done, then the Memorandum would have been hijacked and would have been diverted to the Prime Minister’s Department instead -- and The Agong would have never seen it.
And that was also why it was necessary for 100,000 citizens to march to the Istana Negara to ‘escort’ the Memorandum -- although only 50,000 eventually got through because they sealed off all the roads into Kuala Lumpur which resulted in one of the worst traffic jams in history.
100,000 rakyat wanted to meet their Monarch that afternoon of Saturday, 10 November 2007.
The Agong did not say no. The Agong will never say no to 100,000 rakyat who wish for an audience with His Majesty.
The Agong just wanted to know how many people will be representing the 100,000 rakyat and what their names are. The Agong did not say he did not wish to meet the representatives of the 100,000 marchers.
He in fact asked for their names.This has worried the government.
The Agong also realised that the government will certainly try to frustrate the effort of the 100,000 rakyat who wished for an audience with His Majesty. And this did happen. The government said that a police permit would be required and that the organisers should apply for one. So the organisers did, but the application was rejected. And the government warned that if the 100,000 rakyat still insisted on pursuing the march then the government would retaliate with force. And the government did as promised.
The 19th Brigade of the Royal Malay Regiment
When the first volley was fired on the assembled marchers around the Masjid Jamek-Masjid India area, word was passed down the line that the 19th Brigade of the Royal Malay Regiment or Regimen Askar Melayu Di-Raja (RAMD) was on stand-bye, to move in if there are any fatal casualties.
The Agong is their Commander-in-Chief and soldiers are trained to obey their Commander-in-Chief at no consequence to their own lives.
Fourteen armoured cars (kereta perisai) had earlier arrived from Sungai Petani and were parked at the Sungai Buloh military camp, ready to roll at a minute’s notice. It would take them ten or fifteen minutes to arrive at the scene of any violence against the rakyat.
The police backed off. They were reduced to traffic control where those positioned at junctions stopped cars to allow the marchers to safely cross the road.
The RAMD remained on stand-by and the next morning the fourteen kereta perisai quietly slipped out of Sungai Buloh and went home.
And when the government issued threats of violence against the marchers, the 19th Brigade of the RAMD was brought into Kuala Lumpur with fourteen kereta perisai.
This was The Agong’s way of saying that if you shoot the marchers, just like you did in Batu Burok in front of The Agong’s palace in Kuala Terengganu, then all hell will break loose.
So the government backed off. They had no choice.
The 100,000 rakyat wanted to meet The Agong and His Majesty had said yes. And the 19th Brigade of the RAMD came to town to ensure that yes means yes.
The PM's 'Pantang dicabar' Threat
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi issued a decree at the Umno General Assembly the day before the Saturday, 10 November 2007, march. He said he ‘pantang dicabar’. This translates to mean he is allergic to being challenged.
And his son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin, asked the police to arrest all the marchers.
Yes, arrest all the marchers. Arrest all 1,000 of them! Arrest all 2,000 of them! Hey, even if it is 5,000, arrest all 5,000 of them. But it is 50,000 with another 50,000 on the way. How to arrest 50,000, or 100,000 if the other 50,000 reach Kuala Lumpur? 50,000 is too large a number to arrest. There are not enough trucks to ferry 50,000 and not enough jails to house 50,000 people.
Instead, close all the roads leading into Kuala Lumpur. Seal off Kuala Lumpur and not allow anyone in.
Let it remain 50,000. Don’t allow it to grow to 100,000. Then we (the Government) will announce we won. We will announce that the march failed and the ‘illegal demonstrators’ were prevented from assembling at Dataran Merdeka.
The 'Cat and Mouse' Game
(The rally) never intended to assemble in Dataran Merdeka in the first place. The Dataran Merdeka thing was a decoy, a Red Herring. They wanted the police to assemble in Dataran Merdeka so that they can march unhindered to the Istana Negara.
We (the Govt) were tricked. They (the Rally organisers) won. We lost.Okay, all is not lost.
Putting Words in The Agong's Mouth
We (the Govt) can still announce that The Agong is not happy with the march. We will announce that The Agong did not agree to the march. We will announce that The Agung did not consent to the march. That will give the perception that we won and the 100,000 marchers lost.
And we will get the head of housekeeping (Datuk Pengelola Bijaya Diraja) to make that announcement. After all, he is our plant in the Palace. He is our man and on our payroll. And, since he carries this very impressive title, no one will know he is just in charge of making the beds and not actually anyone important.
Well, Malaysia Today knows. And Malaysia Today knows that most in the Istana Negara regard him as a slime-ball and a scumbag. And anything he who makes the beds says does not matter as long as it is not The Agong himself who said it.
Try again, guys. Maybe you will have better luck next time.
And please, don’t ask that slime-ball and scumbag to make any statements if you want us to believe that it is really The Agong who is saying it.
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