Ousted menteri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin will dissolve the 59-member Perak legislative assembly and call for fresh polls if the Federal Court’s decision in the ‘MB v MB’ case favours Pakatan Rakyat.

The PAS leader said if the court ruled that he was the legitimate menteri besar, he would immediately seek an audience with Perak Sultan Azlan Shah to obtain the royal consent to dissolve the assembly.

nizar penang forum 051209 01 Nizar said he and other state Pakatan leaders have made up their minds that fresh polls was the only way out from the current political impasse.

“If the court verdict favours me and Pakatan, I would seek royal consent to allow the people to determine their legitimate government.

“This is will be best solution to end the Perak constitutional crisis,” he told a forum in Penang last night.

The five-man Federal Court bench is yet to determine the date to give its verdict on the Nizar vs Zambry Abd Kadir appeal.

The court heard the case on Nov 5, immediately after rejecting Nizar's request for a full panel to hear the case.

The Federal Court judges are Alauddin Sheriff, Arifin Zakaria, Zulkefli Makinudin, Ghazali Yusoff and Hamid Embong.

Victory for BN will set bad precedent

Nizar said he would not apply any legal pressure on the judiciary to deliver the judgment promptly although he acknowledged that “judgment delayed was justice denied.”

nizar penang forum 051209 02 “It would be unethical for me to pressure the judges to deliver their verdict fast,” he said, when asked by reporters on the month-long delay by the Federal Court to deliver the decision.

However, he said Pakatan would continue its campaign to create awareness among Perakians on the importance of an election to determine the state political governance.

He said a recent survey carried out by Pakatan Rakyat revealed that 90 percent of Perakians wanted fresh polls.

nizar penang forum 051209 03 “They don’t want the current chaotic assembly sittings to become a permanent feature in the state until the next general election, which could be in three years’ time,” he added.

Nizar noted that a Federal Court judgment favouring Barisan Nasional could set a bad constitutional precedent where the decision to hire and fire a chief minister or prime minister would be exclusively under the royal pleasure.

“We may not need elections anymore to decide who should be the head of a government. It would be decided by the palace,” he said.

Under attack from day one

Nizar also told the audience that BN’s political coup in Perak, though unconstitutional, was not unexpected.

He said the Perak Pakatan government was under attack from Umno and BN from day one he took office.

nizar penang forum 051209 04 He alleged that BN agents were luring and enticing virtually all Pakatan assemblypersons with monetary offers ranging from RM10 million up to RM20 million.

Nizar claimed that even he was offered between RM10 million and RM15 million as well as the MB post to jump ship.

“This happened immediately after Pakatan won the March 8 general election and formed the state government,” he told the forum themed ‘Perak Crisis – lessons for two-party system in Malaysia’.

He also suggested that an anti-hopping law would be an ideal deterrent not only to avert a Perak-like crisis but also to eradicate money politics.

The forum was organised by the state PKR communications bureau.

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