Perak palace will take some convincing

ANALYSIS

By Baradan Kuppusamy

KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 – The Perak crisis is far from over although – against all odds and without precedent – the ousted Pakatan Rakyat state government held an “under the tree” emergency assembly Tuesday and approved motions to dissolve the legislature.

It is a moral victory and a signal of their determination not to accept defeat or let the Barisan Nasional (BN) rule in peace in a state PR had ruled for 10 months from March 2008.

“We are not going to let it go … we are going to keep up the pressure. We are going to hamstring them until a fresh election is held,” said PR leader and Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran.

A comment making the rounds in Perak says that while BN has the state government, PR has the legislature, through the office of the Speaker which is held by Tronoh assemblyman Sivakumar Varatharajoo, a lawyer, trainer and management consultant before entering politics.

The question is, what comes next now that PR has made their point?

Do they really control the legislature now that Sivakumar has been slammed with a restraining order not to act for the legislature?

Will the Perak ruler Sultan Azlan Shah recognize the “under the tree” session and the motion to dissolve the assembly for fresh election?

Very unlikely by most counts; and not just because the session was held under the tree but also because of legal and procedural issues that would potentially invalidate the session.

Political consideration will also come into play in any decision by the palace to give consent or withhold consent.

Nevertheless, the crisis is a very public issue and the burden is on the palace to act in a fair and just manner to ensure a legitimate and competent government in place and ensure peace, stability and progress.

However, with numerous suits and counter-suits and police reports by both sides, it will take months before the crisis can be resolved, lawyers on both sides said.

PR had hoped to end the stalemate they were trapped in by dissolving the assembly and holding fresh elections to let the voters decide the issue.

They had hoped to return to the state legislature with a bigger majority and end the crisis that was sparked after three PR representatives defected last month.

As Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin himself said, he will “freshen up” the wording of the documents and try to seek an audience with the Sultan to get palace consent to dissolve the assembly for fresh election.

But that is easier said then done.

The palace gates will not open for him, not only because he is only an assemblyman now, but also because he and his government had been dismissed by the same Sultan just a month ago.

The Sultan had appointed Datuk Dr Zambry Kadir as the new Menteri Besar on Feb 5 and for the ruler to grant an audience now to Nizar is to go back on his own decision.

“He would want something more legitimate like a full and open session of the assembly with both sides present and taking a vote to dissolve the assembly before he would agree to dissolve the legislature,” a lawyer said.

Therefore it is an uphill task for PR to convince the palace to dissolve the assembly for fresh elections and this means the PR strategy to strangle the BN will continue unabated to force dissolution.

One area of action again is to use the Speaker’s office to hold state secretariat officials, police and others in contempt of the house.

Another is to lodge police reports against the same for restraining elected representatives from doing their duties which is a serious criminal offence under Section 124 of the Penal Code punishable with imprisonment of up to seven years if found guilty.

With these actions and the outcome of numerous suits in the courts undecided, it is too early for any side to claim victory or to conclude that the worst is over for Perak.

BN is expected to either shrug off the “under-the-tree” assembly as a PR circus or go to the court again seeking a declaration to nullify the meeting and the motions.

“It must be appreciated that the events unfolding in Perak are unprecedented and involve complex legal issues and it is impossible to provide a conclusive opinion on them,” said Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan.

Under these circumstances, it is unlikely the Perak crisis can be resolved any time soon.