Zambry Or Nizar The Perak MB - Decision On Tuesday

By Jocelyn Ann Dragon

PUTRAJAYA, Feb 7 (Bernama) -- The conundrum of who is the rightful menteri besar of Perak will be resolved on Tuesday (Feb 9) when the five-man Federal Court bench pronounces its ruling.

The bench, led by Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff, will decide whether Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, 47, of the Barisan Nasional (BN) retains the post or his predecessor Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, 52, of the Pakatan pact of DAP-PKR-PAS reclaims the office.

The judgment will also determine the constitutional issue of whether a head of state can look beyond the legislature to decide if the head of government has lost the confidence of the majority of the elected representatives.

Besides Alauddin, the other members of the bench are Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Arifin Zakaria and Federal Court judges Datuk Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, Datuk Wira Ghazali Mohd Yusoff and Datuk Abdull Hamid Embong.

This is the final step in the appeal by Mohammad Nizar in his attempt to reclaim the post of menteri besar. Nevertheless, the losing party in a court case can apply to the Federal Court to review its own ruling under Rule 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court to challenge the constitutional points.

The five-man bench had deferred its judgment on Nov 5 last year after having heard submissions in the appeal from counsel representing both Mohammad Nizar and Dr Zambry.

The conflict over who the rightful menteri besar is arose last year after three Pakatan representatives quit their parties to become independent state assemblymen, leaving Pakatan and the BN with 28 assemblymen each in the 59-seat Perak legislative assembly.

They are Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi (Behrang) and Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu (Changkat Jering), who resigned from PKR on Jan 30, and DAP assemblyman Hee Yit Foong (Jelapang) who followed in their footsteps four days later. All of them declared themselves BN-friendly independents.

The Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah, then asked Mohammad Nizar, who is Pasir Panjang assemblyman, to step down as menteri besar and swore in Dr Zambry in February last year after declaring that the BN had the majority in the state assembly.

Mohammad Nizar initiated legal proceedings on Feb 13 last year, seeking a declaration that he is the rightful menteri besar of Perak and an injunction to bar Dr Zambry from discharging his duties as the menteri besar.

In May last year, the High Court reinstated Mohammad Nizar as the legitimate menteri besar but the Court of Appeal reversed that decision and declared Dr Zambry's appointment as Perak menteri besar constitutional.