Q&A: It's like a children's story

In an exclusive interview with Malaysiakini in Kuala Lumpur last week, Perak Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir talks about various political issues affecting the state, and advises the parties involved not to be childish.

Below are excerpts from the more than an hour-long interview at a hotel in the city.

Malaysiakini: Did you expect to be the menteri besar?

Zambry: I did not.

You're not considered the first choice?

I did not know in the minds of our leaders whether I'm the first choice or not (laughs)

The May 7 assembly meeting, do you foresee a problem?

I hope not but surely not from our side. I don't know about the other side. I hope all of us will follow a certain decorum as far as the assembly is concerned. We have a certain procedure we have to follow. I hope we will not get into a circus, or any form of commotion because we are all civilised people.

There's a question on the timing of the sultan's consent for the sitting. When did you actually gain the consent of the sultan because the hearing ended last Thursday (April 16) and by Friday we knew there was going to be a sitting.

No it is not because you get the verdict from the court or not… because whether you like it or not, you have to have the sitting because the time frame for every sitting is every six months. So whether you like it or not, it has to happen.

The decision is made by the menteri besar in the first place. You should understand the procedure when the sitting is called. It is actually decided by the sultan. Then he would come up with the proclamation... then we all will have to abide by the date.

But that was a risky thing because the suspension was still effective. What if the suspension was still in place?

It's not about suspension because now the verdict has already come up and I hope the speaker will follow the court's decision.

When was this request to the sultan made? Do you remember?

It was last week, some time last week.

So you must have been pretty confident then (about the verdict)?

Thank you, I have to smile all the time...(laughs)

So basically you went to see the sultan and then said, 'We would like to have the assembly meeting and then a date has been set.'

Well you have to because being a responsible government, we have to tell the Tuanku as we do not want this to turn into any kind of situation where you don't follow the rules and laws as stipulated. Whether we like or not, the constitution clearly states that you have to call for the sitting regardless of any outcome.

I have been stressing that even before I was made the menteri besar, I stated this very clearly, let us go back to business as usual...

But you can't expect the opposition to let you do that...

Well, we hope so. When you have the position in the government you are bound to have certain disagreements but disagreements normally must be done in a good atmosphere where we have been practicing all the while even during our time, even their time as well.

Then we follow the rules, when the decision is made, we follow. I remember during the time, in the first sitting, after the new Pakatan Rakyat government was formed, we discussed and then we debated in a healthy way. When it came to the time, we made the decision, we followed by the majority.

As for the May 7 meeting, what do you propose to do? Would there be a vote of no confidence on the previous menteri besar? Some people are saying that you might take action against the speaker.

(Laughs) This is another interesting point because people have been writing this in some papers and blogs saying that I must get the confirmation (vote of confidence) from the assembly but actually the practice is not that. You should ask whether the previous MB Nizar got his endorsement from the assembly or not. It was not (the case).

But Nizar was a clear cut case where he has the majority, in a sense...

Even then that was not the practice, because the appointment of a menteri besar was made by the sultan and this is quite clear in the law.

Will the House be the right place to determine on the majority then?

If you go back to the process of appointing a MB, it is also important that you have to tell the sultan that you command the majority. If you don’t then you cannot form the government. So the sultan himself must be satisfied with the numbers. We can’t just go there and use the term ' merampas ' or ' merompak '. To a certain extent, I think this is uncalled for.

The process is very clear. Even when they were about to form the government, they had gone through the same process like what just happened. It is quite clear...

Some people are also saying that there will be ' rebut ' (fighting) for the MB's chair in the House?

(Laughs) I was also asked the same question. I remember a few days back when (Mohd) Nizar came out with the statement (of wanting to fight for the chair). We shouldn't be like budak-budaklah (childish). You know what I mean. For what?

With the power grabbing, it's kind of like a children's story going around and rebut kerusi . I don't think that matters much to us I hope everybody will follow (the decorum).

But you still haven't answered our initial question, what’s going to happen on May 7?

Well, number one, the sitting is very important. Because it is very important to have the sitting. What happens next, you will just have to wait and see lah. I don't want to speculate or anticipate anything but I pray that everybody will keep a certain composure. That is very important.

Will there be a vote of confidence in you as MB?

Well that is not the question of a vote of confidence unless they table the vote of no confidence. Then only you have it...

So there will not be a vote of confidence?

I don't think so because it is not in the agenda in the first place.

There is a speculation, you can deny it, but it says you will go in the May 7 assembly sitting as MB with the numbers on your side, you might seek to suspend the speaker and then you have already got one independent who used to be the deputy speaker and put her in place, then things will be easier for BN. Do you see that happening?

That is a hypothetical idea. (Laughs). It’s not speculation but I put it as hypothetical.

But in any way, you still have to remove the speaker, right?

Well, wait and see then (laughs). We want to make it in a cordial way...After all we still have to go through the process of democracy, that’s what this is about.

We should respect the voice of the majority also.

We are going back to the question of the process of democracy, ultimately the voters should decide on that, it should not be decided by three people who had defected.

No, who are the voters that you are talking about?

The people of Perak.

People of Perak? Right then okay. Let me put this question back to you. Do you remember after March 2008, at that point you know when the results came out no one can form the (state) government.

Remember that, this whole so-called Pakatan government or we (BN) could form the government. But we had the single majority party with 28 seats at that time when PAS had six, DAP had 18 and PKR got 7.

So this is the situation, when you go back to the situation that no one can form a government. But then again, when it was brought up to Tuanku, of course Tuanku decided and we had to follow because we know that the ultimate decision that comes with the appointment and forming of the government lies in the hand of the Sultan.

And then of course we adhere to the advice of the sultan and it is not the immediate formation of the government and the members, it takes several weeks to form the government according to the law.

In the process of democracy you have a certain period of what we call, a floor test period - it was rather unprecedented in our history but the process if you look at other countries, you look at India, Australia, they experience this process when they have no one to form the government, but normally they go to the majority party.

But then again when the sultan decided, we adhered to his decision and then we let them form (the state government).

So the process goes as usual, that was the best time, if they wanted to raise and go back to the people, that was the point that they should have gone back to the people for another election.

Again, I was posed this question, if you remember when one of our members crossed to their side, we also posed the same question to them.

Do you remember what was (Mohd) Nizar’s answer? He said that this was democracy, you should give freedom to anyone whether they want to go to that side or to this side. But when it comes to our time, they created an impression among the people that 'this is not right, we should go back to the people'.

I don’t want to use the word 'poison' the mind of the public, to an extent that we are the real kind of perompak , perampas and all kinds of words. I don’t think it is proper.

THE ZAMBRY INTERVIEW

Part 1

No clowning about: 'Pangkor Pele'

Q&A: It's like a children's story

Part 2

Zambry: Lessons from Bukit Gantang

Q&A: I’m not a liar

Part 3

'We need to go back to the people'

Q&A: Give me a chance to prove myself