STOP TWISTING THE STATEMENT BY KARPAL SINGH
12 May, 2008
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
译文：
停止歪曲卡巴星的言论
巴生国会议员查尔斯.圣地亚哥呼吁巫统、首相阿都拉巴达维和马来报章停止把卡巴星的言论扭曲为种族议题。
所有马来西亚人，无论其族群和信仰为何，都视马来统治者为国家的象征，以及希冀君主立宪制以健康的方式运作。
他强烈批评指责非马来人对统治者不敬的煽动暗示。
任何人无论同意卡巴星的观点与否，他的表达自由和民主辩论空间必须被维护。
查尔斯提醒国阵，总检察长阿都干尼两个月前表示苏丹没有权力决定登嘉楼州务大臣的人选的言论，和卡巴星的评论如出一辙。
总检察长 – 以及持同样观点的首相 – 是否也该被控以煽动或叛逆？
查尔斯吁请巫统及首相应该正视卡巴星的议论的内涵，停止偏狭的攻击以逐获政治议程，以转移人民关心国内紧绷的问题和巫统的内部危机。
卡巴星的言论没有质疑苏丹作为霹雳州宗教首长的权限。他评论苏丹阿兹兰莎没有调动州宗教局总监拿督占利苏里的权力。
卡巴星的言论与宪法条文一致。即使苏丹阿兹兰莎是州宗教首长，调动公务员的属于州秘书权限，州秘书则需要听令于霹雳州务大臣。
卡巴星也引用了1982年联邦法庭的判决--联邦直辖区教育总监和陆庭谕案件。法庭的议决指出：“一名公务员调动与否，同样的，无论在什么地点和时刻，都是由政府来决定”
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