Polls should follow court declaration, says Guan Eng
Written by Regina William, The Edge
The High Court decision declaring Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin as the rightful Menteri Besar of Perak should lead to an immediate dissolution of the state legislative assembly to pave the way for fresh elections, DAP secretary-general and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said.
"Only by returning power to the people, can honour be returned to Perak and Malaysia. Let justice be done and let the Perak voters decide," said Lim in a statement.
Lim said the momentous High Court decision would protect democracy by wiping out the shameful takeover of the Perak legislative assembly on May 7.
"The decision declaring Nizar as the rightful Menteri Besar of Perak is a victory for the people of Perak, democracy and justice," he said.
At a press conference earlier today, Lim had said that the DAP and the other Pakatan Rakyat (PR) parties were prepared for a fresh round of elections to solve the constitutional crisis in Perak.
"The question is, is the Barisan Nasional (BN) ready to face the people for their mandate? There have been many parties including Umno leaders themselves who have said that the only way to solve the crisis is via the ballot box, but the BN is not prepared, hence the reluctance to dissolve the Perak legislative assembly," Lim said.
"The incident where policemen took over the state legislative assembly should never have been allowed to happen. The BN failed to understand that political power comes out from the ballot box and not from the barrel of the gun," he added.
On the statement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak that the BN government was ready to cooperate with the opposition parties to resolve the political crisis in Perak, Lim said: "If the BN wants to talk, there must not be any conditions and there must be sincerity from both sides to respect the basic principles of democracy.
"The DAP would still insist on going back to the people via elections. Whatever the people decide, their wishes should be respected," Lim told the media after visiting the Penang Hill funicular railway.
Asked if the release of the ISA detainees including DAP's Kota Alam Shah state assemblyman M Manoharan was BN's means to avoid another by-election, Lim said if another by-election was held, the BN would be in a quandary.
"The BN would definitely have issues about contesting the seat held by the DAP. However, I believe the releases were to divert the nation's attention from what had happened in Perak," he added.
Lim also called on Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to retract the ban on Hindraf.
"With MIC now courting the banned Hindraf-movement leaders, it shows that the movement is relevant. It is a slap on BN's face, as while it has outlawed the movement, the MIC is trying to win them over, which proves that Hindraf is still relevant in the political equation of this country and hence should be legalised.
Meanwhile, Lim hit out at several NGOs in Penang for "barking up the wrong tree" with regard to the RM40 million upgrading works for the Penang Hill funicular railway system.
Plans include replacing the current system with a faster modern line connecting the base and the top, and a tender exercise called by the Public Works Department had given interested parties just three weeks until May 11 to make engineering submissions.
The NGOs had lambasted the state government for the short period of tender exercise.
"They failed to understand that this is a federal government project and the state government has nothing to do with this. They should get their facts right before pointing a finger at the state government," Lim said.
