IPOH: The Sultan of Perak's Office lodged a police report over a viral video of the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah's speech which was seen to be linking and dragging his position for partisan political purposes.
Orang Kaya Bendahara Seri Maharaja, General (Rtd) Tan Sri Dr Mohd Zahidi Zainuddin said that the office had lodged the report on Saturday to protect the good name of Sultan Nazrin from being dragged and tarnished by any party for political gain.
"A video went viral after a woman uploaded a small part of Sultan Nazrin Shah's speech which was read in 2013 at the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) regarding Pas. The way the video clip was processed, has linked and dragged directly or indirectly the position of a King for the purpose of party politics.
"The short part of Sultan Nazrin's speech, who was the then-acting Raja Perak Darul Ridzuan, was taken on Feb 19, 2013, at the DBP Ummah Unity Talk themed 'Ummah Unity, Hope, Reality and Challenge'.
"His Majesty stated an analysis involving the two largest Malay parties, namely Umno and Pas, which were the two dominant Malay political forces at the time.
"His Majesty did not only express positive words towards Pas (in 2013) but on balance also expressed the same criticism towards Umno," he said in a statement today.
Mohd Zahidi said Sultan Nazrin's speech contained 7,500 words and took 90 minutes to be delivered and the part where he praised Pas was just a short quote as well as for Umno.
"It does not arise that His Majesty only looks up to the Pas. In fact, the content of the decree is loaded with explaining the history of the two Malay parties and for the good of the nation and the country, the importance for the ummah to find a way to establish understanding and cooperation despite choosing different political approaches.
"His Majesty gave a balanced review between the two Malay political parties and also issued a warning to both parties that the passion for political support and power should not divide the nation and destroy the country.
He added that it is believed that there were parties who chose to quote Sultan Nazrin's speech in 2013 to rebroadcast to influence voters to support Pas in the six state elections.
Mohd Zahidi said through this media statement, it is emphasized that Sultan Nazrin is not at all in favour and far from giving open support to any political group.
"The act of spreading the related video is very unethical and this kind of act is considered disrespectful to a ruling king and has defamed the good name of the throne. Therefore, the spread of the related video must be stopped," he said.
Meanwhile, Perak police chief Datuk Seri Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri said that police have so far received 20 reports from various quarters over this issue in Perak.
"The case is being handled by the Federal police," he said in a press conference at Perak Contingent Police headquarters here, today.