By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
KUALA LUMPUR, May 30 — Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin has defended his remarks against the Sultan of Johor’s RM520,000 bid for a vehicle registration number, saying it was not seditious in any manner.
According to an earlier report today, police are now investigating the former Perak mentri besar for sedition after he suggested the RM520,000 bid could be better used to aid the needy.
“My tweet did not have any element of sedition.
“It [is] nothing but the truth; it was said in a very general sense,” Nizar told The Malaysian Insider.
When asked whether he would be consulting his lawyers over the matter, the PAS leader said he would “wait and see.”
“I have not been summoned by the police or seen any report, no one has contacted me. So I will wait and see before deciding on what to do next,” the Bukit Gantang MP said.
According to Johor police chief Deputy Commissioner Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Sharif, the department has so far received five complaints over the lawmaker’s remarks.
“We will investigate the matter transparently and professionally. Let us carry out our job without any undue pressure to ensure justice is done to both parties,” he said.
Following the announcement of the successful bidders for the coveted WWW registration numbers by the Transport Ministry on Monday, Nizar had tweeted that the half million ringgit could have gone towards helping the state’s poor Malays buy homes.
“RM520k bolih dibelanjakan membantu rakyat melayu Johor yg masih ramai miskin serta memerlukan bantuan utk kprluan hidup, bina 20 rumah PPRT!” (RM520,000 can be spent on poor Malays in Johor who need help to survive, and build 20 PPRT (Program Pembangunan Rakyat Termiskin) homes!” the PAS leader said on his Twitter account @mbnizar.
But the lawmaker’s remarks drew a swift rebuke from Johor’s Tengku Mahkota Tunku Ismail Idris, who responded via Twitter to say that the state’s royal family does not use public money for personal expenditure.
“JOHOR Royal Family does not take any Money from the Government. Since the time of Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim. Feel free to ask the MB or any Government officials.
“The Money allocated to My Father and I every month as a Sultan and Tunku Mahkota is put into Yayasan Iskandar and Yayasan Ibrahim. The purpose of these foundations (Yayasan Iskandar and Yayasan Ibrahim) is for the Rakyat and to assist the Johor State Government.
“I myself, since the time I was the Raja Muda, Never took 1 cent from the Government till this very Day. Its my Rakyat’s Money. So before You Open your mouth. Do your research,” the Johor crown prince posted on his Twitter account @HRHJohor2.
Nizar is also currently the subject of a separate police investigation after he was previously alleged to have claimed at a rally that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had contacted the heads of the Armed Forces to ask if they would “do something” should Barisan Nasional lose the coming general election.
The Sultan of Johor’s successful bid of RM520,000 for the WWW 1 is a record in the country, and beat out almost 10,000 other bidders including the Yang diPertuan Agong.
The previous record was set by the MCA 1 registration number in 2010, which went for RM300,100.