To : All Editors
RE : STOP TWISTING THE STATEMENT BY KARPAL SINGH
The MP for Klang, Charles Santiago calls on UMNO, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the vernacular Malay newspapers to stop twisting the statement by Karpal Singh into a race-related issue.
All Malaysians regardless of ethnicity and faith see the Malay Rulers as the symbol of our nationhood and want our constitutional monarchy to function in a healthy manner.
He strongly condemns the seditious insinuations that non-Malays are disrespectful of the Rulers.
Whether or not anyone agrees with Karpal's perspective, his freedom of expression and the democratic space for debate must be protected.
He reminded BN that Attorney-General Abdul Ghani Patail's statement just two months ago that the King has no power to determine the Mentri Besar of Terengganu was a similar view.
Should the AG - and the PM who held the same perspective - be charged for sedition or accused of treason too?
Charles urges UMNO and the premier to instead look into the merits of Karpal's argument and stop devious attempts to gain political mileage by diverting peoples' attention from pressing issues in the country and the looming crisis within UMNO.
Karpal's statement did not question the prerogative of the Sultan as head of religion in Perak. He commented that Sultan Azlan Shah did not have jurisdiction over the transfer of the state Religious Department Director Datuk Jamry Sury.
Karpal's statement is in line with what is stipulated in the constitution. Although Sultan Azlan Shah is the head of Islam in his state, the power to transfer a civil servant lies with the state secretary, who in turn takes orders from the Mentri Besar of Perak.
Karpal Singh had also cited a decision made by the Federal Court in 1982 in the case of the Federal Territory Education Director and Others vs Loot Ting Yee. Here, the court ordered that "whether a civil servant should be transferred, and if so, where and when the transfer is to be made are matters for the government to decide."
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Charles Santiago
MP Klang
016-626 7797
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