Let Federal Court decide first, says Gerakan Youth

Written by Yong Min Wei, The Edge

With mounting pressure for the Perak political impasse to end, the option to call for an emergency sitting in the legislative assembly to determine who holds the majority is not the best solution for now, pending the decision of the Federal Court, said Gerakan Youth.

With the matter now heading to Federal Court, several politicians from both sides also hoped that the judicial process be allowed to take its course first.

Gerakan Youth chief Lim Si Pin said it was best for all parties to let the courts determine the rightful Menteri Besar of Perak, adding that any sitting in the legislative assembly now would only complicate matters.

He said this was because the legislative assembly would risk conducting an illegal sitting. "An emergency sitting now may only cause the impasse to worsen," he told The Edge Financial Daily today.

Lim said whoever was ruled as the legitimate menteri besar should call for a sitting in the assembly soon after, to determine who held the majority support.

"There should be a vote on whether there is a need to dissolve the assembly and not solely base on one particular lawmaker's decision," said the 39-year-old whose father is former Gerakan president Tun Dr Lim Keng Yaik.

The Gerakan Youth chief also said the power struggle needed to be legally resolved quickly as it had caused anxiety among the rakyat, dented investor confidence and brought about a near standstill in the state administration.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said on Sunday that convening an emergency sitting in the legislative assembly was an option to end the Perak constitutional crisis but stressed it was not the only way to determine who held the majority support in the House.

However, Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir said today the state government would let the judicial process take its course before deciding on whether to have an emergency sitting.

Commenting on the matter, DAP Socialist Youth (DAPSY) national chairman Anthony Loke said an emergency sitting would only determine who had the mandate in the assembly but not the paramount mandate of the people of Perak.

He said a dissolution was the only way to solve the impasse as it would be democratically right to let the voters decide who they wanted to rule the state rather than to leave it in the hands of the 59 lawmakers.  

"It is still not too late to seek  for dissolution. DAP does not mind if Zambry is the menteri besar that seeks dissolution from the ruler," said Loke, who is also the Rasah MP.

He added that the opposition party would not mind Zambry's administration being the caretaker government pending a state polls so long as it was the ballot box that would resolve the stalemate.

Meanwhile, an Umno Youth leader who declined to be named said Pakatan Rakyat (PR) must concede that it had lost its majority in the assembly following the successful BN motion which saw 31 of the 59 lawmakers in favour of electing Datuk R Ganesan as speaker.

"They (PR) know they will lose any motion in the House and that's why they suspended Datuk Zambry and six others in advance. The opposition must accept reality and should exit honourably, " he said.

The Umno Youth leader pointed out that if PR acted in the best interest of Perak's integrity and social justice,  it must allow the democratic process to take its course and agree to put to vote a motion of no confidence against Nizar to see if he still commanded the majority.

"Democracy does not mean only fresh elections. To vote in the House in a free and fair manner is also democracy," he added.