Pakatan accepts Karpal's clarification
Malaysiakini.com
May 12, 2008 
Chan Kok Leong

Although Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy and what Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh said was merely a legality issue, PKR
MCPX
de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim said he would have handled it differently.

DAP chairperson and criminal lawyer Karpal found himself some unwanted attention recently when some of the remarks he had made concerning the royalty had come under the spotlight.

Over the past week, the renowned lawyer has had 20 police reports lodged against him after he had said the Sultan of Perak had acted unconstitutionally in the transfer of a religious department official and criticised Regent of Kelantan's message at a forum last month.

anwar ibrahim pc 120508 03At a press conference today, Anwar said, "The representatives of Pakatan Rakyat have discussed this. And we've seen the clarifications by Karpal in the media that it was not his intention to disrespect the (royal) institution or the Sultan.

"We've also seen how the Umno-owned newspaper, Utusan Malaysia, continues to incite the Malay public against Karpal. We also see the double standards and the inconsistency in terms of the speedy investigations into the Karpal case.

"And (the authorities) not to react or respond to the virtual insult by many Terengganu Umno leaders on the Sultan of Terengganu. We've deliberated this matter and we accept Karpal's clarification.

"But we re-affirm our position as to the constitutional monarchy and the respect and deference to the Malay Sultans," said Anwar.

Solving the matter amicably

However, the former deputy prime minister said he would have acted very differently in the matter had it been him.

"Karpal was making a comment purely on the legality of a particular action.

"My personal position when it involves the royalty, I would seek an audience with the Sultan to clarify some of these issues.

"When you speak of constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, some of these institutions must be respected and must be perceived as so.

"For not only the Malays but also the non-Malays feel that if we strongly hold to a position, the best option will be to seek an audience, get a clarification and solve the matter amicably."

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