One year after triggering the fall of the Perak Pakatan Rakyat state government, Behrang state assemblyperson Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi has no regrets.

Though he had to vacate his seat in the state executive council (exco), the PKR-turned-BN-friendly Independent believes that he is where he should be.

"They (BN) are totally different. They give us due respect," Jamaluddin told Malaysiakini in a recent phone interview.

"They treat us as part of the family and ask for our opinions on issues."

Jamaluddin is one of the three Pakatan state representatives who ditched the coalition on Feb 4 last year and pledged allegiance to BN as independents.

The other two are Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu (Changkat Jering) and Hee Yit Foong (Jelapang).

This tipped the scale in the state legislative assembly allowing BN to declare itself as the new state government with a simple majority, controlling 31 of the total 59 seats.

'Three Ns'

Jamaluddin said he had always felt marginalised over the 10 months when he was part of Pakatan, and that he was ignored as an exco member.

“They never treated me as part of the executive council team but excluded me in all the important decision making polices.

"It was always the 'three Ns' who made the decisions without any feedback from me or (Mohd) Osman."

Jamaluddin burst out laughing when asked who the 'three Ns' were, and replied that they were ousted exco members Ngeh Koo Ham, Nga Kor Ming and ousted Menteri Besar Mohammad Mohammed Nizar Jamaluddin.

Cousins Ngeh and Nga are two of the most powerful figures in the Perak DAP and are often accused of being the puppet masters of Nizar, who is from PAS.

Because PAS holds the least amount of seats in the state assembly, the party is limited to only one seat on the 10-member state cabinet, which can be easily vetoed by DAP which holds six seats.

Will he join BN?

Regardless of the alleged marginalisation by the 'three Ns', Jamaluddin insists that he left Pakatan reluctantly, saying he was forced out.

“Who produced the resignation letters (as state assemblypersons) and asked me to leave? Ask them,”  he said.

Jamaluddin was referring to attempts by ousted state assembly speaker V Sivakumar to declare his seat, and the two others, vacant by producing resignation letters signed by the trio.

Sivakumar's decision was controversially ruled invalid by the Federal Court.

Though rumours are rife that a snap election may be called soon, Jamaluddin said he has not decided whether to defend his seat as an Independent or to stand on a BN ticket.

"I will inform you when the time comes," he said.

For now, all Jamaluddin wants to do is to concentrate on his corruption trial and serve his constituents during the weekends.

Jamaluddin and Osman are on trial, along with several others, of receiving bribes when they were part of the Pakatan exco to fast-track a development project in Pusat Bandar Seri Iskandar.