I refer to Malaysiakini report Perak MB - it’s Zambry!
The die is cast. As expected, the apex court unanimously affirmed Umno’s Zambry Abdul Kadir to be the ‘lawful’ menteri besar of the Silver State thus putting paid to Pakatan Rakyat’s elected Mohd Nizar Jamaludin’s ambition to reclaim his throne.
Looking at all the judgments in the past whereby the appeal and federal courts rescinded the decisions of the high court, one surely cannot be surprises by this latest federal court decision.
With the verdict in Umno’s favour, this ‘court-elected’ MB of Perak will have the legitimacy under the law to rule the state until the next general election is held. But one wonders that without the people’s mandate, on what moral grounds was the present MB’s tenure of office legitimated?
Now the common people can see the true colours of our inept leadership who use the judiciary to rule the country’s as they please. The judiciary is the last bastion for the common people to seek justice against the rich and powerful but if judges in the higher echelons of justice fail to discard their work professionally and seem to be under the thumb of the executive, it would mean that the dark days of oppressive rule are back again.
How the tides have changed. Previously, it was the BN government who was at the losing end as they had lost almost all the by-elections except for one and people even believed the de facto
opposition leader’s prediction that he will form the next federal government on Sept 16, 2008 with the help of a few BN turncoats who will jump ship.
The opposite happened instead and two PKR and one DAP assembly person’s switched camps resulting in the Silver State falling to the other side.
Democracy is all but a name in this country without democratic principles being practiced. With the judiciary and law enforcement on their side, the BN government can trample on the people’s right to elect leaders of their choice.
With the fragile opposition front in disarray and the opposition leader in court facing a second sodomy charge, one would think that the alternative coalition’s ambition to form the next federal government is all but a pipe dream.
If powerful institutions who are the guardian of our constitutions are being helmed by individuals whose loyalty is only towards their political masters rather than to the sacred office which they
hold, one can only conclude that those in power can use these institutions to remain in office regardless of whether the people support them or not.
Umno is waiting on the right moment to seize the day to call for snap polls in order to win the people’s mandate to rule the country again. With all the government machinery at their disposal and their political rivals unable to bridge their differences, one wonders how can we have a new beginning.
But then again, nobody expect the opposition front to deny the BN government their two-thirds majority in Parliament as well as sweep five state seats during the last historical general election in 2008.
Never underestimate the intelligence of the educated voters who will not show their hands in the open but will use the ballot box wisely to decide what the country need to progress in the future.
Will our Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak call for a snap election to get the people’s mandate now that the courts have deemed it fit for BN to rule the Silver State? And while the opposition coalition fortunes are at an all-time low? Me thinks not.
