KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 – This decision was reached during a meeting between Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi  and  Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin at the Istana this morning. There is a possibility that another Umno assemblyman could be appointed as the deputy mentri or an advisor to the MB, a concession by the royal household to the government.

But whichever way you look at it, Abdullah’s band of critics will put the score as 2-0.

It remains to be seen whether Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah or Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will be able to ride on any groundswell of discontent over Abdullah’s handling of these two events.  

The Malaysian Insider has learnt that Abdullah’s meeting with the King was cordial, with the Prime Minister apologising for the public spat over the appointment of the mentri besar. He explained that there was no intention to disparage or humiliate the royal household.

He offered Datuk Mohamed Awang Tera as a compromise candidate but the Sultan made it clear that he would not budge from his choice of Ahmad Said.

Several people familiar with details of the meeting said Sultan Mizan said that he had no intention of causing problems for the government, and also added that some people were trying to convince him to take more drastic action to break the impasse. But it was not his intention to stoke the fire, he said.

Over the past few days, there has been talk that the royal household would be prepared to dissolve the state assembly if there had been a motion of no-confidence against Ahmad Said by the 22 Umno state assemblymen.

Palace sources have said that the Sultan, who is also the Malaysian King, made known his disapproval of Idris to the government late last year. He listed down episodes and policies which had displeased him and was clear that he would not accept Idris’ return as the mentri besar.

For Abdullah, this was a difficult situation from the word go. He had to support Idris as the MB. By all accounts, Idris has the backing of Umno assemblymen and was instrumental in delivering the state back to the BN in a difficult election. Not giving his backing to Idris could have been interpreted by the Umno ground as the act of an ungrateful and weak leader.

But going up against the palace was also a strategy fraught with minefields. Abdullah needed to take a hard stance against an “interfering’’ palace to send a signal that despite a diminished mandate, he and the BN were still in control. He also needed to show his Umno troops that he would look after their interests in the new Malaysia, where there appears to be several power centres emerging.

What he did not factor in was the amount of animosity the Sultan and members of his household had against Idris, their willingness to put up with a bashing in the media and their conviction to stick to their their game plan for the long haul.

Finally, Abdullah ran out of time. And options.