IS THUGGERY A PART OF A ROYAL’S LIFE?

Please allow me to say my piece concerning these young Royals who have brought disrepute to the Royal families and more importantly, had shamed the entire Malay race as well. I hope this piece of advice does not make me look like another Malay ‘penderhaka’ to the Royal household that I hold with reverence and in great esteem.

I am referring to the media report on the assault of a member of the Negeri Sembilan royal family by a young member of the Johore royal family and his bodyguards at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Kuala Lumpur in the late hours of October 25 last year.

I do not wish to dwell on the circumstances that led to the fracas because I was not at the scene of the incident. And one could hazard a guess that it could be over the weaker sex and a bit of alcohol. But what is more important is that this incident having been flashed all over the media, does not make it appear good for sereneness of the Royal household.

Let me be honest by saying that I am personally disgusted at the behaviour shown by the children of members of the two Royal families in the above incident, regardless of who is more righteous than the other. Most elders like me would be saying the same thing.

In the first instant, an incident like this should never have happened at all because most Royal families in this country are all regarded as one large family, either through marriage or having long period of relationship that sometimes predate the period of the early Malay Sultanates.

Each and every member of the Royal family have been raised and tutored with strong religious upbringings, of examplary character, taught the Royal etiquette and how to carry ones self in the palace and in public, and not to do anything that will expose them to odium.

If the aforesaid incident were to occur 150 years ago, I am quite certain that there will be war and bloodshed between both the Royal household. But we are now living in a different world; a world that upholds the rule of law; not a law where the Ruler is absolute and reigns supreme.

Are they not being reminded of an incident some years ago where another young member of the Johore royal family was said to have been involved in a fracas with a hockey coach, that later led to the government reacting to strip the Royal immunities enjoyed by them previously. This incident though not similar to the October 25 incident, involves the unsavory behavior of a member of a royal family; one that is a subject of abuse of an innocent citizen.

It is also unfortunate that bodyguards who are paid to protect and to keep their ‘masters’ away from harm and trouble, have taken upon themselves to react like lawless thugs. I would like to say that these hired thugs only gets their strength and sense of bravery by being in the company of other hired thugs. Place them alone; they are more likely to run off with their tails in between their hind legs.

I do not wish to say anything more of the incident, and let's hope that the problem will be resolve amicably between the parties involved; any damages to the hotel compensated and the hired thugs realizing for themselves that what they did was embarrassing and wrongful.



CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION