7, January 2019
Malaysia: King abdicates after two years on the throne 0
Malaysia’s king abdicated on Sunday in a historic first for the country that ended weeks of speculation about his future after he took medical leave and reportedly married a Russian ex-beauty queen. Sultan Muhammad V’s decision marks the first time a king has stepped aside during his five-year term in Muslim-majority Malaysia.
The national palace confirmed the resignation with immediate effect of the 49-year-old, who had been on the throne for two years and was known for his fondness for four-wheel driving and other extreme sports.
“His majesty tells the people of Malaysia to continue to be united to maintain unity, tolerance, and work together,” said a statement from the Comptroller of the Royal Household, Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz.
Malaysia’s Islamic rulers will now meet to decide on the next king. Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy, with a unique arrangement where the throne changes hands every five years between rulers of the nine Malaysian states headed by centuries-old Islamic royalty.
The system has been in place since independence from Britain in 1957. Royal officials gave no reason for Sultan Muhammad V’s move but there had been a question mark over the king’s reign since he went on leave for medical treatment in November.
Secret marriage?
Reports in British and Russian media then surfaced saying that he had married the former Miss Moscow in the Russian capital in a lavish ceremony.
Royal officials in Malaysia have so far not commented on the rumoured marriage, or given any details about the state of the king’s health.
Speculation intensified about the king’s future after his medical leave officially finished at the end of December, and the country’s Islamic royals reportedly held a special meeting last week.
While their role is ceremonial, Malaysia’s Islamic royalty command great respect, especially from Muslim Malays, and criticising them is strictly forbidden.
Sultan Muhammad V studied at St Cross College at Oxford and the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, according to official media. He is known for a relaxed public persona, taking part in walkathons to promote health, and has been photographed wearing a baseball cap backwards.
According to a report from official news agency Bernama at the time of his enthronement, he “fills his free time by reading and has an interest in extreme sports such as four-wheel drive expeditions and endurance challenges and shooting”.
He is also the ceremonial ruler of the conservative Islamic northern state of Kelantan. The palace statement said he was “ready to return home to the state of Kelantan to be together with the state government and… the Kelantanese people”.
(AFP)
7, January 2019
Gabon says Libreville calm after military coup attempt 0
The government in Gabon says calm has returned to the capital Libreville hours after a group of military officers launched a coup attempt in the absence of ailing President Ali Bongo.
Government spokesman Guy-Bertrand Mapangou told AFP on Monday that most of the army rebels, who had earlier in the day seized the national radio station and called for a public uprising, had been arrested.
“Calm has returned, the situation is under control,” he said.
Gunshots were heard around the headquarters of the national TV station at 6:00 a.m. local time (0530 GMT) around the same time a person, who identified himself as Lieutenant Ondo Obiang Kelly, the deputy commander of the Republican Guard, read a message on the radio.
He announced a “national restoration council” would be formed, adding that the so-called Patriotic Youth Movement of the Gabonese Defense and Security Forces (MPJFDS), headed by himself, “calls on all young people from forces for the defense and security and Gabonese young people to join us.”
“The eagerly awaited day has arrived when the army has decided to put itself on the side of the people in order to save Gabon from chaos,” he said. “If you are eating, stop; if you are having a drink, stop; if you are sleeping, wake up. Wake up your neighbors… rise up as one and take control of the street.”
The apparent coup attempt comes as Bongo has not been back to Gabon since he was first hospitalized in Saudi Arabia on October 24. It was later revealed that he had suffered a stroke. He is now recovering at a private residence in Rabat, Morocco.
In his New Year address, Bongo said in spite of health issues, he was regaining his fitness. Media reports suggested that during the speech, Bongo had slurred some words and had not moved his right arm.
Gabon’s Constitutional Court has transferred part of the presidential powers to the prime minister and the vice president in Bongo’s absence.
The Bongo family has ruled the oil-producing country for nearly half a century.
Bongo has been president since succeeding his father, Omar, who died in 2009. His reelection in 2016 was marred by claims of fraud and violent protests.
US troops in Gabon
Just days before the coup attempt, the United States deployed military troops to Gabon.
President Donald Trump told Congress in a letter on Friday that the troops had been sent to Gabon to “protect” American citizens and diplomatic facilities in case violence breaks out in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, Kinshasa.
“These deployed personnel will remain in the region until the security situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo becomes such that their presence is no longer needed,” Trump wrote to Congress.
Many geopolitical analysts believe that the US is expanding its military presence in Africa in order to exploit the continent’s oil and mineral resources while staying close to the Middle East.
Source: Presstv