UMNO playing a dangerous game in Perlis

Shahidan playing a very dangerous game.

It's rare for UMNO to be in a collision course with the royalty. Usually, UMNO would be the first to shout "derhaka" if anyone in Pakatan Rakyat/Harapan were to do anything that can be construed as going against the royalty.

Yet, in Perlis you had a situation where none of the BN state assemblymen show up for the swearing in of the Menteri Besar. This has made the Raja of Perlis angry.

"They (the nine assemblypersons) did not show any respect for this ceremony and if we allow this to continue, more than this would happen."

The issue is Shahidan, the state BN leader, wanted his brother to become the MB but the ruler chose someone else instead. To this, Shahidan says:

"We contested in the general election. We have a right to determine who our leader is."

Under normal circumstances, UMNO leaders would be shouting "derhaka" towards anyone who dares say such a thing, although constitutionally, it is probably correct. So, it seems whether something is "derhaka" or not all comes down to whose ox is being gored.

UMNO has subsequently sacked the ruler-chosen MB Azlan Man from the party so he is now an independent MB. That situation is obviously untenable since he now no longer commands the support of the other UMNO reps. This might force the ruler to choose a new MB or it might spark a constitutional crisis if the ruler refuses to do so.

There is also a third possibility, which is that some UMNO reps jump ship and support Azlan instead. BN had won 10 of the 15 state seats. With Azlan kicked out, they now have nine seats only. Pakatan has three while PAS has two. If they team up with Azlan, that's a total of six seats. If just two BN reps switch over, they would have eight seats out of 15, which is a majority. Then BN loses the state.