Here is the thing about the Sultan of Johor and his Brigadier General of a son.... what the two of them do in the name of the rakyat of Johor does not stand up to reasonable scrutiny. It is much too easy for the Sultan....any Sultan...to turun padang and have a chit chat with his rakyat and belanja them to a meal in a roadside cafe or restaurant....and that would be enough to set tongues a wagging about a Sultan yang berjiwa rakyat....the Sultan with a common touch (huh!).
In the early 1960's when my late father was serving in Pahang the then Sultan was Sultan Abu Bakar. Now that was a Sultan berjiwa rakyat. The Orang Asli think nothing of waving Tuanku down whenever they see him pass them in his Rolls Royce.....and Tuanku will stop and spend a few minutes chatting with them....and then again be on his way after a token sedekah to the Orang Asli. I remember one time when we were waiting for Tuanku to come back from a sea trip to one of the outlying island off the coast of Pahang....and we were waiting in the hot sun for about an hour as his arrival was delayed. When he arrived he knew that we have all been waiting in the hot sun for him for over an hour. He insisted on shaking hands and saying 'thank you" to every one who was present. He was much loved and revered for the love and concern he had for his rakyat.
Now we have an immensely rich Sultan of Johor who pays Aud 1 million for an Aussie made truck, is spending millions to build a house in Perth, has a Father and son Jet plane parked at Seletar Airport in Singapore for their convenience.....
9M-1SJ - Johor Sultan
9M-TMJ - Johor TMJ
300 cars garaged in the compound of their Palace...and in the past year or so they have embarked on a contrived public relation campaign to sell themselves to the people of Johor as the Sultan and son who do care about the rakyat of Johor. For a while it worked.... until money.... big money....got in the way. And so when Mahathir's sniping at the Chinese investment in Malaysia started to get in the way of the Sultan's Joint Venture with the Chinese for the massive development in Johor....what happened?
To protect his investment in the project this Sultan of Johor had to hantam Mahathir.....and just for safe measure he also had to hantam Muhyiddin.
Well Tuanku Sultan....the cat is now among the pigeons!
This Sultan of Johor should really butt out of politics and business....especially politics. Of course he could always give up the Johor throne and contest at Gelang Patah or Pagoh and give Kit Siang or Mahyuddin a run for their money! Can or cannot?
As for business...even with all his money, Tuanku will find that doing business without having the powers that be in his corner may prove to be daunting even for a Sultan.
In other words Tuanku....if you want to start interfering in politics or do business....do not think that we the rakyat are blind and deaf to the reason why you are doing so. I suggest you go to your counting house and count your money and leave politics to politicians and business to the businessmen.