THE relationship between Putrajaya and the Malay rulers remains healthy despite disagreements on certain matters, said Muhyiddin Yassin.

Speaking to the media in conjunction with Pakatan Harapan’s first year in power, the home minister said “one or two incidents” are not good yardstick to negatively gauge the relationship.

“I don’t think that one or two incidents is an indication that we don’t have a good relationship with the rulers,” he said in Putrajaya.

He added that the government has high regard for the constitutional monarchy and respects the role of the rulers. 

Putrajaya will always maintain a good relationship with the monarchs, and ensure that the relationship remains healthy and not strained, he said.

The Bersatu president also acknowledged that the veneration for the monarchy among the people is still high.

“On that note, we want to ensure that the relationship between the government and the rulers remain good. This is a democracy.”

Since coming to power last May, the government has seen several flash points with the Malay rulers, especially between Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the Johor palace.

Towards the end of last year, Dr Mahathir had ticked off the Johor crown prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim over the conversion of Pulau Kukup from a national park into a crown land.

Tunku Ismail had earlier told off ministers to stay out of state issues.

Arising from that, the relationship between the Johor palace and Dr Mahathir had not been smooth, this despite the prime minister making a visit to meet Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar in January.

Last month, the Johor palace again slammed Putrajaya for its decision to ratify the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court, saying that it was unconstitutional and affected the roles of the Malay rulers.

Subsequently, Putrajaya had to withdraw from the treaty after a group of academics had reportedly made a presentation to the Conference of Rulers on April 2 on the pitfalls of ratifying the statute.

On April 5, Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced Putrajaya’s withdrawal from ratifying the Rome Statute in a specially arranged press conference and blamed people with vested interests for it. 

More recently, ties between Putrajaya and Johor palace again came under scrutiny over the replacement of the Johor menteri besar and the reshuffle in the state exco line-up.

While Dr Mahathir was agreeable to change the menteri besar, he was not interested in changing the exco line-up as was demanded by the sultan.

However, the new menteri besar, also from Dr Mahathir’s party Bersatu, has reshuffled his exco line-up as soon as he took office as part of an agreement agreed by Muhyiddin with the palace. – May 2, 2019