Nizar relying on 'fairy tales' to support cause

Lawyer Cecil Abraham said ousted Perak menteri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin has been creating fairy tales to support his cause, when he had lost the support of the majority in the state assembly.

Cecil, representing BN-appointed menteri besar Zambry Abd Kadir (right), submitted that the Kuala Lumpur High Court, when in doubt, should look at the documentary evidence.

"The fact remains that the three assemblypersons (two from PKR and one from DAP) had withdrawn their undated resignation letter," he said.

"The three also told the Sultan of Perak that they were withdrawing their support from Pakatan Rakyat."

Cecil said all this evidence was before Sultan Azlan Shah and is now before the court.

He said counsel Sulaiman Abdullah, for Nizar, had during his submission continued to ignore the documentary evidence at hand.

"He focused on other issues, namely the deadlock issue, when in fact there is no deadlock as BN has 31 assemblypersons compared to Pakatan's 28."

Cecil said such information may have been known to Nizar (left) or the Perak speaker but in one way or another they may have ignored it and created fairy tales.

If the court was faced with conflicting facts arising to different versions, it could rely on the documentary evidence, he noted.

"It is trite law that, when in doubt the court could rely on other evidence and what better way than to depend on the documents."

Cecil also submitted that the sultan has the right to exercise his judgement not to grant the dissolution of the state legislative assembly upon Mohammad Nizar's request.

By way of not allowing for the dissolution, Cecil said the Perak constitution provides for Mohammad Nizar's resignation with immediate effect.

Sultan acted legally in appointing Zambry

The lawyer also submitted that the sultan had acted under Article 16(2) of the Perak constitution in appointing Zambry as the menteri besar as his royal highness was satisfied that the BN leader commanded the support of the majority and notwithstanding that a motion of no confidence was not tabled beforehand at the assembly.

"Zambry was lawfully appointed as the menteri besar on Feb 6, in accordance with provisions of the Perak constitution and the documentary evidence namely, the letter of appointment is of evidence.

“Hence, the writ of quo warranto (by what warrant or requiring to show the authority) should be dismissed," said Cecil.

Mohammad Nizar, who was wearing a black and yellow stripe tie according to the Perak colours was present in court along with DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang, Perak DAP chief Ngeh Koo Ham and PAS vice-president Mohammad Sabu, before he was arrested later at Jalan Pahang.

The 52-year-old filed an application for a judicial review on Feb 13, seeking a declaration that he is the rightful menteri besar and an injunction to bar Zambry from discharging his duties.

'Not within the purview of the sultan'

Earlier, Sulaiman submitted it was not within the purview of the sultan to take into account the three members in deciding the status as being 31-28 at the material time of Feb 5, 2009 when:

• Prima facie they had resigned;

• The speaker declared they had resigned;

• Irrespective of their protests post-resignation, not one denied authorship of letters of resignation; and,

• The matter was already in court.

Sulaiman also led the court to compare the various constitutions of Commonwealth countries and noted that the Perak constitution does not give the power to the sultan to investigate or hold an inquiry whether the applicant (Mohammad Nizar) still commands the support of the majority.

"The Perak constitution and the Malaysian constitution is the same. It is only in the West Nigerian constitution where the governor can look into the matter and determine whether its premier commands the majority," he said.

"Such powers is not prevalent in Perak. It can be said that the sultan may have acted ultra vires by not letting the House (assembly) decide. Where else such matters should have been dealt at the legislature to see who commands the majority," he said.

Hearing continues before Justice Abdul Aziz Abd Rahim tomorrow with Sulaiman's reply on Cecil's submission and also the closing remarks.