Pakatan undeterred by doubts over judiciary's independence

Wong Choon Mei

IPOH, Feb 4: With five days left to go before a crucial court decision on who is the rightful Mentri Besar of Perak, Pakatan Rakyat is stepping up preparations for fresh polls despite raging arguments over the probability of an independent ruling that is without fear or favour from the country's top court.

“As far as the law is concerned, we are 100 percent confident we are right and will win. In such a scenario, we will surely ask for an immediate dissolution of the state legislative assembly,” Perak DAP chairman Ngeh Koo Ham told Harakahdaily.

However, he acknowledged that was right and what the judges actually decided were two separate matters.

“We are not naïve. We are fully cognizant of the fact that the courts have on many occasions shown themselves to be under the thumb of the federal government - not just in Perak and not just recently but since the Mahathir days and even in cases involving Sabah and Sarawak. But we will soldier on because we believe we are in the right and most importantly, so do the Perak people,” Ngeh said.

Stubbornly clinging on

Meanwhile, deposed Pakatan Mentri Besar Nizar Jamaluddin has challenged Zambry Kadir - the Umno leader whom Prime Minister Najib Razak picked to replace him - to call for fresh polls and let the Perak people choose for themselves the government they wanted.

“Zambry is talking nonsense. He is misleading the public by saying Umno-BN can win at least 34 seats. If the BN can win just half of that, it would be amazing,” he told Harakahdaily.

There are 59 seats in the Perak legislative assembly. Umno-BN has the same number of 28 seats as the Pakatan but due to support from three Independents, it has managed to wrest control of the state government.

The coup d’etat led by Najib in February 2009 has plunged Perak into a constitutional and economic crisis. The people of the state are unhappy at manner in which the Pakatan – whom they elected into power in the 2008 general election – were pushed out and have demanded fresh elections. However, their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

"There is about one to one and a half years before the next general election. BN would wait until then and not call for snap elections," said political analyst James Wong, who added that after going through so much trouble to topple the Pakatan government, it was more likely for the Umno-BN to put their political interests first and try to consolidate their grip on the state.

Prolonging the pain of the Perak people

Nizar, whose Pakatan coalition has promised to return the voting mandate to the Perak folk, has launched a series of legal battles to reclaim the state government. In May 2009, he was declared the rightful Mentri Besar by the High Court, but the decision was overturned by the Appeals Court.

The Federal Court is due to announce its decision on his appeal on February 9.

"If it favours Zambry, there would be continuous dissatisfaction and the opposition will continue to question the independence of the judiciary," said P Siva Murugan, dean of social studies at Universiti Sains Malaysia. "If Nizar wins, people will scrutinize his next move to dissolve the assembly as promised and if the Sultan would allow for the dissolution."

Indeed Sultan Azlan Shah has played a pivotal role in the Perak power grab. Whether he has the authority to sack Nizar and appoint Zambry without the support of a vote taken by the legislative assembly is at the center of the lawsuit filed by Nizar against Zambry, which has become popularly known as the MB vs MB case.

Meanwhile, Nizar is confident that 80 percent of the Perak people support his Pakatan government and it was pointless for Najib to prolong their pain.

“Najib can say ‘let’s wait for the next general election’. He can drag on the crisis because he may feel malu or shy to admit he was wrong and do the decent thing by dissolving the assembly now, but it is the people of Perak who will suffer the most,” Nizar warned.

“If you were to check around with the banks, you will find that most have stopped giving loans collateralized by land and property in Perak because they are worried about the legality of the transfer documents that have to be endorsed by the state authorities. Who is the legitimate state authority – that is the burning question,” said Ngeh.