At least one Pakatan Rakyat leader is not prepared to swallow the bait dangling from the fishing line held by rival coalition Barisan Nasional (BN).

nizar pc 110509 03 Ousted Perak mentri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin is far from convinced that BN is sincere in wanting a pow-wow with Pakatan to deal with the political storm that has raged through the state assembly since February.

“It is a political gimmick by (premier) Najib (Abdul Razak) to gain political mileage at the expense of Pakatan Rakyat,” he told Malaysiakini in Ipoh.

“He (Najib) is the head of the crisis (that saw the BN takeover of the state government). It was he who grabbed power from us and it does not make sense (for him to now call for talks) and it is not going to go anywhere.

“It is a lot of hot air being blown by Najib to gain political mileage. He is passing the buck to (BN-appointed MB Zambry (Abd Kadir) and Tuanku (Sultan Azlan Shah) to decide the fate of the state.”

najib razak acccim 170409 pc “If Najib is really sincere (and committed) to the rights of the people as he has proclaimed under the ‘1Malaysia’ policy, then this is a golden opportunity for him to dissolve the Perak assembly and call for fresh elections. (He should) have the political will to walk the talk.”

Last week, Najib had stated that he is ready to hold talks with Pakatan leaders if they are sincere about resolving the issue, but did not want any pre-conditions set.

He also insisted that there had been no power grab in Perak, describing the takeover as neither illegal nor unconstitutional, as such changes of government have taken place in many countries that practise democratic principles.

Mixed reactions

PAS spiritual adviser Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat is dead-set against Najib’s overture and has advocated the dissolution of the Perak assembly to enable elections to be held.

However, PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim said he is prepared to meet Najib to strengthen democracy. He also the people of Perak should be given the mandate to determine who should form the government.

A clutch of court cases have been filed by Nizar and Zambry, each seeking legal endorsement of their position.

Last week, the Kuala Lumpur High Court had declared that Nizar is the lawful menteri besar. However, Zambry succeeded in getting a fast-track stay order.

On Thursday, the Court of Appeal will both hear Zambry’s appeal against the High Court ruling and Nizar’s application to set aside the stay of execution order granted to Zambry.