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Next Perak MB: Will Nizar make way for Tunku Aziz?

I refer to the Malaysikini report Court rules Nizar is legitimate MB .

It is clear that the Perak royalty has been humiliated by the court's decision and by extension Mohd Nizar Jamluddin who challenged the sultan's decision to sack him. On the assumption that the sultan will now grant royal assent to dissolve the state assembly, fresh elections in Perak will be no plain sailing for Pakatan Rakyat.

Imagine the power struggle in Pakatan arising now that they see Perak as a 'sure win' for any of the seats which each party contests. Each will be trying to enhance their power base in Perak. Expect PAS to jostle for more seats in the Malay majority areas with its rival PKR, whom it can claim cannot be trusted due to the allegations of corruption against the two PKR assembly persons and their subsequent defections to BN.

Similarly, expect DAP to vie for even more seats in Chinese and Indian areas where they form a sizeable minority.This will put them potentially in conflict with the PKR Chinese leaders, many of whom have an undisguised contempt for DAP.

PSM has always viewed Jelapang as its natural constituency and we remember the war of words with DAP during seat allocations in the last election. Since Hee of DAP defected to BN, PSM can now claim more 'right' to the seat as its members have done a tremendous amount of grassroots work in the area.

The sultan has absolute discretion in appointing the MB when the assembly is elected. Will he reinstate Nizar after all the humiliation which has heaped upon him after he sacked Nizar ?

What if the sultan does the proper thing and appoints Ngeh as the MB thus waiving the discretionary constitutional caveat that a Malay Muslim should be the MB? How well will this go down with the Pakatan representatives? Will there be threats of defections in this scenario?

On the other hand, if Tunku Aziz of DAP is fielded as a candidate and wins, would he not be the most appropriate candidate notwithstanding the popularity of Nizar? Will Nizar be big enough in the interest of democracy to make way for Tunku Aziz and endorse his appointment by virtue of DAP commanding the majority?

Nizar was a default candidate we have to admit. PAS had by far the least number of seats but he was appointed only because the archaic state constitution states that only a Malay Muslim should be appointed given that there were no DAP Malay candidates.

The PKR Malay candidates were considered as not having the necessary academic and personal credentials for the post despite having more seats than PAS. Judging by the defections and antics of the two PKR candidates, the royals proved to be right on this.

So the burning question is, will Pakatan endorse a credible and towering Malay such as Tunku Aziz to be MB in the event that the DAP maintains its majority? Will Pakatan endorse Ngeh as MB if the sultan waives the racist but discretionary constitutional caveat and appoints a Chinese in the interest of democracy, equality and respect for human dignity?

Personally, I feel Tunku Aziz of DAP should be fielded if there are fresh elections in Perak. It will legitimise the democratic process and it will not bring about potential constitutional conflicts such as the appointment of Ngeh as the MB.

It will save the Sultan of Perak's face from having to eat humble pie by reappointing Nizar. Furthermore ,the sultan will be appointing a fellow royal, thus enhancing the status of royalty which has taken a severe bashing recently.

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