As an anak Perak, I am deeply saddened and puzzled by the recent development in the Perak government. It is indeed against the democratic process that we have followed since the independence of our country in determining who governs us.

On March 8, 2008, we Perakians exercised our constitutional right to vote for a government. Like in other states, Perakian went back to their respective constituencies to cast their votes.

The people have spoken and the opposition parties DAP, PKR and PAS won the election thus paving the way for a new and unprecedented 'opposition rule' in Perak.

Since then, we Perakian by majority are quite happy with the administration of the new government.

This 11-month-old government alone brought such positive changes to Perak. Generally, the Perak government was doing what the people wanted which is based on fairness, transparency and reform.

In such a short period of time, the government generated a huge profit in their balance sheet which was unknown to have even existed in the vocabulary of the previous BN governments (correct me if I am wrong). In short, the Pakatan-led government was doing just fine before this whole episode set in.

Najib Razak has become Perak BN chief. There is no secret which state he comes from. From the Perakian point of view, he is merely playing politics and trying to win support from Umno and BN component parties.

The defeats in Permatang Pauh and recently Kuala Terengganu were a major blow to his credibility. The 'impending' PM of Malaysia is losing support from the Malaysian public. While I agree that party- hopping is unethical but it is not illegal in Malaysia.

Therefore, a law must be written and passed to avoid this disaster in Malaysian politics. What will happen if same thing happens in Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Terengganu?

We Malaysian can’t afford such a crisis as we should be thinking of reviving the dying economy and improving business activities in Malaysia. Look at US, their election is past, a president elected, partisan views out and they are doing everything wholeheartedly together to ride out the recession.

Other countries in the world are collaborating their efforts to fight the economic recession. I would say what the Perak is facing is a political recession, going backwards with confidence indexes crashing down like a bear market. Eventually, the people of Perak are going to suffer the most.

I have high respect for Sultan Azlan Shah. Being a a former Lord President, he must be well capable of understanding the Perak constitution. His Highness is aware of the separation of the three components of government.

While, it's always ideal to achieve total impartiality, in reality it is a huge vision. That's where the rule of law comes in where nobody is above the law. By law, His Highness has the power to replace the mentri besar if he/she does not command the majority of the house.

In this case, the three reps who have resigned from Pakatan are merely standing by BN’s side. They have not joined BN legally. Which means both Pakatan and BN have 28 reps with three independents on the side.

In this area, His Highness has merely appointed a new mentri besar but not a new government. What does the term ‘ independent’ mean? It means they are not representing any political party. They can join party A one day and cross over to party B one day and zigzag the very next day.

This is what has angered Perakians. How can the future of Perak be determined by these three? In short, they knew that they are going to be 'important' to both sides so the higher bidder wins.

Pakatan Rakyat, betrayed by these three reps, is not favoured by Sultan but they have the support and backing from rakyat Perak. Isn’t this the most important? The sultan has to act within the law.

Pakatan Rakyat can dissolve the state assembly by virtue of casting a no-confidence vote against the new MB but the chances of this are very slim given the 'majority' reps sided with BN.

Another way is for all the Pakatan reps to resign simultaneously paving the way for fresh by-elections (total 28).

A fresh mandate is needed to govern Perak effectively. A 'hung' house is a disaster for the people of Perak.