UMNO popularised precedent for royal critics

The precedent of raja adil raja disembah; raja zalim raja disanggah may have been in existence for a long time in the folk culture of the Malays, but it is certainly Umno itself which popularised it during the movements of Constitutional Admentments in 1983 and 1993 to curb excessess and also check abuses of the powers of traditional sultans. Underlying the more progressive tradition of raja adil raja disembah; raja zalim raja disanggah is the admission of the real possibility that hereditary rulers could also betray the rakyat, or make decisions that are detrimental to the values or/and interests of the common people. So, the public critics of Sultan Azlan Shah's constitutionally erroneous decision to "sack" MB Nizar and to install the Zambry regime in Perak only follow the precedent popularised by none other than Umno itself.

Constitutional expert: Sultan Azlan Shah errs