A fresh election is the best solution to resolve the political crisis in Perak, which has now taken a turn for the worse with the suspension of the new BN state cabinet.

sivamurugan pandian saiful bukhari sodomy allegations penang 020708 02 In saying this, Universiti Sains Malaysia senior lecturer in the School of Social Sciences, Sivamurugan Pandian called on Perak's Sultan Azlan Shah to dissolve the assembly and call for a snap state election to allow the people to elect a legitimate government.

"The people will lose if we allow this crisis to prolong,” he said, adding that if a fresh poll were to be the best answer, so be it.

"After all the fundamental basis of a democratic system is to elect a government by the people, with the people and for the people," said the academician.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said yesterday he disagreed with the suggestion that a fresh state election would be the answer to the political impasse.

According to him, the best solution was for the BN state government to continue ruling Perak.

sultan azlan shah 02 Sivamurugan said since the palace was perceived as a “neutral and independent institution” by the general public, it would be best for the Perak sultan to exercise his constitutional power to dissolve the assembly and call for a snap poll.

"An election would end the turmoil and restore political stability," he said, adding that currently the people were confused as to which is the real government in Perak.

"Is it the previous Pakatan Rakyat or the new Barisan Nasional? People are confused," he told Malaysiakini.

Do not impose emergency rule

He also warned BN against imposing emergency rule, saying that it would only worsen the crisis and also stir up public anger against the ruling coalition.

"It would be better for BN to allow fresh poll than imposing emergency rule," he said, pointing out that undemocratic desperate measure would invite widespread international condemnation on the Putrajaya administration.

jamaluddin mat radzi and osman jailu perak pkr He also raised doubts concerning the support two independent assemblypersons Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi (Behrang) and Osman Jailu (Changkat Jering) can give to the new BN state government since they were “tainted characters”.

Both of them had defected from PKR and currently face graft charges.

"It raises questions on the credibility of the BN government," said Sivamurugan.

On Wednesday, the Perak state assembly special privileges committee suspended Perak Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir and his entire six-man executive council members.

Sivamurugan said he was disgruntled by the way politicians were spending their time and energy to politically outscore each other.

Since last March’s general election, he pointed out that the country's leaders seemed more interested in politicking, instead of working together to face the global economic crisis and helping to revitalise growth.

"The people now desperately want their political leaders to steer the country out of the crisis and politicians should heed their demands," said the political analyst.