Feeble attempt, Honourable PM

ARCHIVES 2009

By admin-s On May 17, 2009

By Loyarburok

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak made a feeble attempt to rationalise his argument on the Perak power grab at a press conference in Manado North Sulawesi in Indonesia after attending the Summit Meeting of the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI).

I quote part of a Bernama report (taken from the Malaysian Insider):

“Don’t forget… don’t blame Tuanku (Sultan of Perak). In the 2008 general election, the BN was the only party that had the majority in the State Assembly with 28 seats… the opposition pact is not registered and remains as three separate parties.

“At that time, if Tuanku had wanted to appoint Tan Sri Tajol Rosli Ghazali (the former mentri besar), he would have had the right because the BN was the only party that had the biggest majority.

“The Tuanku, in the spirit of democracy based on the resolution made by the elected representatives from the three opposition parties… (After) the Tuanku had received their written pledges, the Tuanku then appointed Nizar as the mentri besar,” Najib explained.

But now, the opposition has lost the majority in the state assembly and Sultan Azlan Shah had appointed Dr Zambry who was nominated by the BN using the same approach and based on legitimate principles without breaching the democratic system and constitution.

“This transpired according to procedures in line with the Perak State Constitution and parliamentary democracy. …

I would now show that the Perak Constitution does NOT talk about whether a political party or a coalition party need to have the numbers to form the State Government.

Article 16(2)(a) says “His Highness shall first appoint as Menteri Besar to preside over the Executive Council a member of the Legislative Assembly who in his judgement is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the Assembly.”

A close scrutiny of this Article will reveal that the Sultan does not take into account the party affiliation of a member of the Assembly in consideration when appointing the Chief Executive of the State.