Yesterday, the Court of Appeal allowed a stay of execution on the High Court's judgement that Nizar Jamaluddin 'is, and was, at all material times the Chief Minister of Perak'. This means that whilst the High Court finding is that Nizar is and has always been the legitimate MB of Perak, he cannot assume this post yet until the stay of execution is lifted. Presumably this will take place after all the legal avenues have been exhausted.

In the meantime, the state of Perak will be in limbo because no other person can legitimately occupy the seat of the MB as long as the ruling by the High Court that Nizar is the rightful MB is not overturned. This means that Zambry cannot assume that he is back to being the MB as he has been found not to be the rightful MB by the High Court, and whatever decisions Zambry has made over the past three months as ‘MB' of Perak is illegitimate and will remain illegitimate as long as the High Court ruling is overturned. This includes the shameful removal of the Speaker on May 7.

I see only three ways out of this impasse:

  • The courts to speed up the resolution of this fiasco and make the final irrevocable judgement.
  • To allow for emergency session and resolution of vote of no-confidence in MB to be held.
  • All parties (Barisan Nasional, Pakatan Rakyat and Sultan of Perak) to agree that the best recourse is to allow for fresh elections and to let the people decide on their state government.

Option one leaves it up to the courts and since when should our courts decide on political matters, whilst option two is not satisfactory due to the doubts on the legitimacy of the vote given the uncertain status of the three assemblymen who jumped shipped. In my opinion, option three is therefore the most fool-proof as this gives the people of Perak the right to decide who they want as their state government.

Otherwise the poor 'Perakians' will continue to be the losers due to the stalemate situation right now with no one allowed to captain the ship, and we Malaysians will be the ultimate losers as in Tengku Razaleigh's words, "We now have reason to fear the loss of the people's confidence in the Constitution, in democracy and in our constitutional monarchy."