Restore democracy to Perak: Appeal to Sultan Azlan Shah
Written by Koon Yew Yin, CPI
The dinner talk by the people’s Menteri Besar Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin at Ipoh Swimming Club on Saturday, March 6, has encouraged me to write this article.
Last year I wrote a piece after Speaker V. Sivakumar was physically removed from his chair in the Perak state assembly.
In my column, ‘We urge the Perak Sultan to dissolve the assembly’ (May 23, 2009), I made the prediction that we will never see the end of Perak’s battles in the court. I was wrong. The wheels of justice in Malaysia, which are notorious for grinding slowly, have in this instance demonstrated super speed.
Exactly a month ago on Feb 9, the Federal Court upheld the Court of Appeal’s decision that Umno’s Zambry Abdul Kadir was the rightful MB.
Zambry’s lead counsel Cecil Abraham also noted all parties are bound by the apex court’s ruling. “This decision is binding on the state government and the Federal government,” he told reporters.
There are many contentious points in the Federal Court’s ruling which have already been debated by other observers better versed in Malaysian constitutional law than me. However, to me, perhaps the most contentious argument was that the Sultan of Perak does not need to act on the advice of the executive council in the matter of dissolving the state legislative assembly and it was at his absolute discretion.
This argument which smacks of a system of absolute monarchy will take Perak and the country backwards rather than forward.
But let’s assume that the Federal Court ruling on this is correct. Is this the end of the matter? In my humble opinion, no – and I would like reiterate that the only way out of the present legal quagmire is to return the vote to the people.
Duty of Perak royalty
To safeguard the interest of the country and the institution of the monarchy, the voice and will of the rakyat must be respected. It has to be called on to be heard – in one way or another – because though the wheels of justice grind slowly, they grind exactingly.
To the letter of the law a government must be answerable, and the one standing above politics must be accountable as well. In my humble opinion, Perak will regain its shine and the people’s trust when the Sultan accedes to the dissolution of the state assembly.
Once again, we Perakians urge Sultan Azlan Shah to dissolve the state assembly.
My view is not an isolated one. A poll of registered voters in Perak conducted by the Merdeka Centre for Public Opinion on Feb 8 showed that:
