No talks on Perak until court rules, emergency sitting maybe

By Shannon Teoh - The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 — Barisan Nasional (BN) remains bullish over the Perak imbroglio as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today ruled out any negotiations with Pakatan Rakyat (PR) but refused to dismiss the possibility of an emergency sitting to confirm its majority in the state assembly.

The three-and-a-half-month-long constitutional crisis that has engulfed Perak is now before the court of appeal as Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir has filed an appeal against the High Court ruling that Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin is the rightful mentri besar.

With no clear end to the deadlock in sight, both BN and PR have appeared amenable to cooperating to find a solution to the impasse.

But PR, led by Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, are insisting that a fresh election must be part of the equation, a condition that BN has been reluctant to agree to.

However, Najib’s statements in a press conference today seemed to reflect a confidence that BN will eventually triumph either via the courts or by a show of numbers in the assembly.

“We must respect the process in the courts. Even the opposition wants to take it to the courts,” he said.

The BN chief added that only after the courts had decided could any negotiation be conducted.

“We must both respect the courts and not do anything that will cause disturbance,” the Umno president said.

But when asked if this meant that BN would not seek to convene the state assembly, Najib replied that this was up to the “state government,” echoing an earlier statement that Zambry was now in charge.

“It is up to them to decide on this matter and discuss with the Sultan with respect to a sitting of the assembly,” he added.

This comes after rumours earlier today that Zambry had already asked the palace to convene an emergency sitting this week.

Zambry had quashed such talk when met by reporters in Sri Iskandar, Perak this morning but when contacted by The Malaysian Insider later, he refused to neither confirm nor deny the possibility of an assembly sitting to table a confidence vote either against Nizar or in favour of himself.