I refer to Malaysiakini report on High drama, violence and ‘pokok demokrasi’.

Malaysian politics has recently taken a new twist and the state of Perak is now in limbo after the swearing in of a ‘new’ menteri besar and the apparent refusal of the lawful and legal MB to resign.

The intense politicking by BN and the unlawful takeover has caused the state to stagnate as civil servants will not know which MB’s orders to follow. The lawful MB, which in my opinion is still Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin, should not be shoved out of his house and thrown out of the state secretariat building like what was witnessed weeks ago.

He and his exco line up are, after all, representatives of the people, lawfully and legally elected to run the state. How can we actually let three morally corrupt ‘frogs’ to cause the state government to tumble? This is a clear sign of instability and will discourage any potential investor.

Can anyone guarantee that such a disgraceful perversion of democracy will be avoided under BN rule? What if some state assembly persons in another state decide to hop over from BN to Pakatan Rakyat and the number is sufficiently enough to topple a state government?

This leads me to believe that there must a strong anti-hopping law adopted to ensure that democracy and the people’s will are respected at all times and cannot be perverted by morally- corrupted representatives.

Of course, one may ask, if they are morally corrupted, why were they elected in the first place? However, one must remember, the voters elected the party, not the individual.

Currently, the state of Perak is probably the only state in the world to have 2 chief ministers or menteri besar with both MBs questioning each other’s legitimacy. It really makes us s laughing stock internationally as news reports of what is happening here have reached Hong Kong and China.

There should be no questioning of Nizar’s legitimacy as he was lawfully elected by the people on March 8 to represent them and lawfully sworn in, in the presence of the sultan. I do not understand the logic behind Zambr Abdul Kadir’s appointment as Nizar did not face a vote of no-confidence in the assembly nor did he resign voluntarily.

However, over the past few weeks, I really appreciate and admire the iron will of Pakatan Rakyat assembly persons as they have shown that they will not allow certain people to run roughshod over the people’s will and democracy as a whole.

In addition to that, I would also like to stress that what happened in Perak yesterday will always remain a blot on the history of our parliamentary democracy. There is nothing more obscene than watching 27 representatives and the speaker convening a state assembly meeting, the highest law- making body in Perak, under a huge tree in a carpark!

For goodness sake, I see no reason why the elected representatives were shut out of the assembly hall other than to prevent them from reinforcing their confidence in the one and only lawful MB, Nizar as well as to dissolve the state assembly for fresh elections.

It just shows what great lengths certain people will go to to pervert and subvert democracy. Of course, it also shows the iron will of these 27 elected representatives and their speaker to see the will of the people carried out. Kudos!

The most disgusting thing was how the assembly secretary openly defied his boss, the speaker, by sending out a notice declaring that the speaker has acted illegally in calling for a state assembly. He should only do what the speaker tells him to do as the latter is his direct superior. Clearly, he is under the influence of certain parties or he will not brazenly defy his boss like how he has done.

This perversion is a gross disrespect of the assembly and its status as the highest law-making body in the State. Zambry even had the audacity to say that any emergency meeting of the state assembly would be a threat to national security. I find this amusing as I simply do not find how 28 elected representatives will want to threaten the very people who elected them. His statement simply makes no sense,

In my opinion, I see Zambry and his exco as a toothless tiger trying very hard to hang onto power as they know that if fresh elections were called, the people will reject them. They will attempt to hang onto power by hook or by crook and by instigating all sorts of unnecessary drama just to avoid fresh elections.

With this political impasse, BN has definitely lost a lot of ground in terms of public support. Many Perakians have vowed not to elect any BN representative whenever there is a by-election and ultimately, they will reject the dacing.

The undeniable question is, how long can BN avoid elections? Five years down the road, the federal government will be forced to call for a nationwide general election and if this conflict still persists, BN representatives in Perak will definitely face a landslide loss.

To our most respected sultan, more than 50% of the state’s population is looking forward for a dissolution of the state assembly. Letting the people decide on who they want as their leaders is obviously the best way forward to end this impasse.

Let us all wait for the most respected sultan to decide on whether or not to accept the State assembly’s decision. Hopefully, he will agree to the motion and call for fresh elections to ensure that the will of the people is always represented and reflected by their government.