Conference of Rulers hopes to end political leadership scrap

Malaysia’s nine ethnic Malay rulers were to hold a special meeting to help resolve a political wrangle over the premiership after the ruling alliance collapsed this week.

The turmoil deepened after rival parties challenged interim leader Mahathir Mohamad’s announcement that the lower house of Parliament will meet Monday to vote for a new leader and that snap elections will be called if it ends in an impasse.

Mahathir said King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah has failed to find a candidate with majority support after consulting lawmakers.

But his former ruling alliance led by rival Anwar Ibrahim and other political parties said only the king has the power to appoint the prime minister under the constitution. They also said Mahathir had jumped the gun ahead of an official announcement from the palace and the

Conference of Rulers meeting.

Local media said the Conference of Rulers, comprising nine hereditary Malay rulers, will meet at the palace before Friday prayers to discuss the matter.

A failed bid by Mahathir’s supporters to form a new government without his designated successor, Anwar, and Mahathir’s shock resignation on Monday broke apart the ruling alliance less than two years after it defeated a corruptiontainted coalition that had led the country for 61 years.

Both Mahathir and Anwar are vying for the premiership, reviving their two decades-old political feud. All sides are waiting for a formal decision by the palace to clear the impasse.

The nine rulers are seen as guardians of Islam and Malay traditions and have a big sway among Malay Muslims, who account for 60 per cent of Malaysia’s 32 million people. They elect one among themselves to be Malaysia’s king under the world’s only rotating monarchy system. –