DAP chairperson Karpal Singh has informed Sultan Azlan Shah and the new Perak government that he would take legal action against the two parties if they proceed with the swearing-in of the new BN team at 3.30pm today.

He said he would file a legal suit next Tuesday if warranted after the Thaipusam holiday which ends on Monday.

karpal singh 201108 “We will sue the sultan together with the new state government if they persist on the swearing-in,” said Karpal in his office in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon.

Karpal, the Bukit Gelugor MP and a renowned lawyer, said the removal of Perak Menteri Besar Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin by the Perak sultan yesterday “purportedly pursuant to Article 16 (6) of the Constitution of the State of Perak is clearly an act against the provisions of the article”.

Article 16 (6) of the Perak Constitution indicates that “if the Menteri Besar ceases to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the Legislative Assembly, then, unless at his request His Royal Highness dissolves the Legislative Assembly, he shall tender the resignation of the Executive Council.

perak constitution article 16 “In law, the decision of the Sultan of Perak can be questioned in a court of law,” he said.

Describing it as unlawful because the Perak sultan “has no rights to dismiss the Pakatan government which is lawfully elected by the people”, he said the sultan had “acted beyond the state constitution”.

“Under the constitution, Article 64 also states that the sultan should refer to the court on whether the three assemblypersons are still the Pakatan assembly members,” said Karpal.

Sultan has no right

However, he added, the state assembly should instead decide under Article 33 (1) on the status of the three assemblypersons.

“The sultan has no right to call the three assemblypersons to the Istana one by one to question on where their allegiance lay.

najib and sultan azlan bn takeover perak “He did not act in confines of what a sultan could do because this is the job of the state assembly,” he said.

Yesterday, the sultan had decided there would be no dissolution of the Perak state assembly. He told Mohd Nizar to step down as MB to pave way for power transfer to BN

Meanwhile, Perak state assembly speaker V Sivakumar had also applied to the High Court yesterday to declare undated resignations letters by former Pakatan representatives as valid.

The three - PKR's Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi and Osman Jailu, and DAP's Hee Yit Foong - have claimed that their quit letters signed soon after being elected as assemblypersons last March were done under duress.

The Election Commission has overruled the Perak speaker on the matter.

“(But) even the EC had doubts if the resignation letters are valid,” noted Karpal.

Should the assembly decide that the three are no longer lawfully state assemblypersons, Karpal said it would be a ‘deadlock’ with an equal number of seats in the northern state, that requires the sultan to order an election.

slim majority in perak update 040209 “The state would have 28 to 28 for both sides, which means Perak should conduct fresh polls.

According to the veteran lawyer, the sultan should refer to the Federal Court whether he could act under Article 66 in dismissing the Nizar’s government.

"Our view is that the Pakatan government is still a valid and lawful one,” he said.

However, Karpal stressed that this was “nothing personal” against the Sultan Azlan Shah.

“I think the constitution should be respected by all, including the rulers,” he said.

Crossing over: Anwar slammed too

Karpal further shifted his disappointment against Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim for starting his Pakatan campaign “in gaining power from crossing over”.

perak bn takeover crisis 050209 anwar and nizar Anwar had previously claimed that Pakatan had more than 30 BN parliamentarians willing to cross over to Pakatan to enable the opposition alliance to take over the federal government on Sept 16 last year.

However, that did not materialise.

“Crossing over is a criminal offence, this is a very serious matter. You are a cheat whether you are in PKR or DAP. The people should decide ultimately," he stressed.

“In fact, Anwar Ibrahim was wrong in his campaign to get BN people to cross over. You don't grab power that way. Najib is also wrong,” Karpal said.

The outspoken DAP chief further stressed that “only PAS and PKR endorse grabbing power through crossovers, not DAP”.