We are supposed to have entered an “information age”. “Information is Power” screams the slogan of the technocrat. The professors lecture about how history should not be taught as just an endless list of rulers but we should appreciate the nuances of the times, political, social and cultural.

Our literary doyens remind us of the writer’s fascination with real-life connections. We are supposed to have entered an era of “New Malaysia”…

But you wouldn’t think so the way the mainstream media has covered the resignation of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. Almost at once, we the people have been told that everything is fine and the Council of Rulers will elect a new Agong.

Worse, Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun has warned the public not to engage in speculation following the resignation of Sultan Muhammad V as the 15th Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Unless you are an obsolete robot (as opposed to the new super robots!), you would engage in speculation about how and why the Agong has resigned half-way through his term. Every teacher and lecturer, including our new education minister, would encourage Malaysian students to think and to ask probing questions about what they read. Yes, that includes speculation and possible theories for historical events.

How are students going to answer a question such as: “What are the factors that led to the resignation of the Agong in 2019? Discuss.”

So, as an information buff, a historian, social scientist and writer, I was appalled that the mainstream media had provided absolutely no information regarding why the Agong had resigned. There have been no editorial write-ups on the issue, no discussions of the legal implications of the Agong marrying a foreigner or any other extraneous factors, political or otherwise, that prompted his resignation.

In fact, pictures of the Agong’s wedding had been circulating in social media for weeks and it would have taken just a question in Parliament for Malaysians to know why the country was not celebrating this happy event.

In the total absence of these facts, we can only speculate. There will be no “historical facts” for history and social science students to chew over. All they can do is speculate on the factors that led to the resignation of the Agong in 2019. In fact, moral judgments are ultimately based on imagination and speculation. Heaven forbid the IGP ever becoming a teacher of Moral Philosophy in our institutions.

Kua Kia Soong is the adviser to Suaram.

The views of the writer do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.