February 06, 2009

Pakatan refuses to surrender state govt

By CLARA CHOOI and IVAN LOH
IPOH: The Perak Pakatan Rakyat government has refused Sultan Azlan Shah’s order for it to resign.
Instead, Pakatan leaders have declared that they were still the legitimate state government and would soon seek an audience with the Ruler to request for the dissolution of the State Assembly.
Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin however denied that this was an outright “rejection” of the Ruler’s decision.
“We have not rejected the decision. We are just pleading for the Sultan to follow the provisions in the Perak Constitution whereby there should be a dissolution of the State Assembly when the Mentri Besar seeks for it,” he told a packed press conference after meeting with the top Pakatan leaders and assemblymen at his residence here Thursday.
Nizar said that when he was summoned to Istana Kinta earlier, he had “humbly” informed the Sultan that he did not want to resign.
“His Royal Highness told me that the Barisan Nasional now has 31 assemblymen on their side while the Pakatan only has 28.
“As such, he said he did not want to dissolve the state assembly and he asked me and all the state exco members to resign.
“With a humble heart, I told Tuanku that I, as the Mentri Besar and the leader of the house, request to not be relieved of my duties,” he said.
Nizar added that should the Sultan refuse again to dissolve the State Assembly, a vote of no confidence could be tabled against him (Nizar) in the next assembly sitting.
“That would be the best way,” he said.
He added that Barisan did not command the majority in the State Assembly for like Pakatan, it too had only 28 assemblymen under its banner.
The remaining three -- Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi, Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu and Hee Yit Foong -- were Independents.
PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was also at the meeting, described the situation in Perak as “shocking and alarming, to say the least.”
“The Mentri Besar has not resigned. He has not been dismissed.
“There has not been any official notification received by him and therefore it is clearly abnormal for this to take place in this so-called democratic system in Malaysia,” he said.
Anwar said that the Pakatan leadership council, including himself, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang, would seek an audience with the Sultan as soon as possible.
“We will pay our respects to His Royal Highness and inform to comply with the peoples wishes,” he said.

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