Attempts to drive a wedge between the government and the Malay rulers will not succeed, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told reporters after the Malaysia Autoshow 2019 on Thursday, April 11.

Instigators will "fail"

According to Malaysiakini, he said that while there have been "a lot of attempts now (the singling out of the Rome Statute for instance) to make the rulers unhappy with the government", the instigators will fail.

Mahathir gave the reply in response to a question if he agreed with Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah's remarks on April 7 that the government must be protected against a "deep state" that sought to remove it using undemocratic means.

Malaysian media defines the term "deep state" as a form of secret government that operates independently of a country’s political leadership for its own personal agenda.

Democracy will prevail

Mahathir added that such attempts to create friction between the government and the Malay rulers will fail because of Malaysia's democratic system.

He said,

"It will fail, because this government is elected by the people and this is a democracy.

You can't just get rid of the government and substitute it (with something else).

Unless of course, we want to drop democracy and become a kleptocracy. You can (then) become an autocracy."

Malaysia's withdrawal from the Rome statute

Previously, Mahathir announced Malaysia's withdrawal from ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), citing "people with vested interests" who were creating "political confusion" as the reason.

In addition, he alleged on April 5 that the move was due to "one particular person who wants to be free to beat people up", The New Straits Times (NST) reported.

He also claimed that the withdrawal from the Rome Statute was part of a plot to pit him against the Malay rulers.

Prime minister-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim then said on April 6 that Mahathir was apparently referencing "a particular personality in the royal household" that brought the Rome Statute up.

Sultan of Johor thanked government for Rome Statute withdrawal

The Sultan of Johor later thanked Putrajaya for withdrawing from the Rome Statute, The Malay Mail reported.

The Sultan and his son, the Crown Prince of Johor, had been among the fiercest critics of the Rome Statute's ratification.

A feud that goes back more than 35 years

Such tensions between the royal family of Johor and Mahathir are not new.

Mahathir first clashed with the Malay rulers in 1983 over a Bill that proposed several amendments to the Malaysian Constitution regarding the role that the royals played in passing legislation, according to The Star.

The tensions were recently heightened by the public disagreements between Mahathir and the royal family, such as Mahathir's statement that the Crown Prince of Johor is not above the law, and the selection of the next Chief Minister of Johor after Osman Sapian has resigned.

Top image via Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad's Facebook page