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Legal circles say that he has limited choices in resolving tussle with the King By S JAYASANKARAN, BUSINESS TIMES
PRIME Minister Abdullah Badawi is between a rock and a hard place. With a constitutional crisis intensifying in the north-eastern state of Terengganu, his choices seem limited, according to legal circles. That and his seeming weakness in the wake of a disastrous outing at the March 9 general election could set the stage for a challenge to his position and authority. Mr Abdullah is prime minister by virtue of being president of the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), the dominant party in the ruling National Front coalition. The Terengganu problem has been smouldering for a while, which makes Mr Abdullah's predicament mystifying, given that the problem would have been well known to the federal government. But clearly, nothing was done to resolve it at the outset. The prime minister's critics are already pouncing. Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, a former finance minister who has offered himself as a candidate to challenge Mr Abdullah for Umno's presidency, fired the first salvo yesterday. Saying that the King acted 'within his powers', he accused Mr Abdullah of mishandling the situation and 'stunning ineptness in managing fundamental relationships and straightforward functions of government'. For quite some time, there has been talk that Terengganu's ruler, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, did not get along with the state's former chief minister, Umno's Idris Jusoh. Mr Idris is a confidante of Mr Abdullah and, more to the point, won the state for Umno with a two-thirds majority in the state legislative assembly. But two weeks have since passed, and except Terengganu, all the states, including the five won by the Opposition, have formed governments. On Saturday, the palace there dropped a bombshell and named Umno assemblyman Ahmad Said chief minister-designate. Given the numbers of Umno assemblymen - 22 - who have sworn support for Mr Idris, the Sultan's choice seemed unconstitutional. And Mr Abdullah said as much. 'Most of the assemblymen support Idris. Therefore, supporting anyone else is not right constitutionally.' Gani Patail, the Attorney-General, was expected to see the ruler yesterday to brief him on the constitutional position of Mr Idris vis-a-vis Mr Ahmad for chief minister. It is not clear what happened at the meeting, but events are moving rapidly in any case. Mr Ahmad told reporters on Sunday that he would resolve the situation by tomorrow, implying that he would get the support of a majority of assemblymen by that time. Given the respect the ruler has in his state, analysts say that Mr Ahmad's assertion was entirely possible. On the other hand, he has been threatened with the sack by Umno - to be considered by the party's Supreme Council on Thursday. That may not resolve anything. Mr Abdullah's choices will be very limited if Tengku Mizan, who is also Malaysia's King, does not budge from his position, analysts say. No ruler in Malaysian history has even been impeached. In any case, it would have to be before a Special Court of his peers, which has never been convened. Another alternative would be to declare a state of emergency in Terengganu and rule it from Kuala Lumpur, an option that was used in Kelantan state back in 1979 by former premier Hussein Onn. That option does not need the permission of the ruler. After almost a year, Mr Hussein called for fresh elections which his party won. Calling fresh polls is another option for Mr Abdullah - but a risky one. If Mr Ahmad is sworn in, he can only wait for 90 days before he has to call for the state legislature to sit, according to Syed Saleem Faruqi, a professor of law at University Teknologi Mara. According to that scenario, Umno could pass a motion of no-confidence in him, which would result in a fresh poll. But given the present rumblings between the palace and Umno, it is not at all clear whether the ruling party could retain Terengganu in a new election. Tengku Mizan is highly respected in the state and those feelings could backfire on Umno. Indeed, the opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia - which rules neighbouring Kelantan - came out openly in support of Tengku Mizan yesterday.
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The Blogs 
But strange things happened in Paklah's administration. I have never heard before that the HRH the Sultan who has appointed an UMNO man to be MB and then objected and threatened by UMNO.
Probably it has to do with NEP that breeds cronyism.