KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 9 — The Barisan Nasional has won the legal battle to keep Perak but the political battle for the hearts and minds of the people has just started — and it remains an uphill battle for BN.
“The vast majority of the people reject this court appointed Mentri Besar,” said Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran, echoing the feelings of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) supporters across the country.
He told The Malaysian Insider that PR members are shocked and disappointed with the outcome.
“We had expected the judgment to go our way. But since it has gone their way we are deeply disappointed,” he said.
“Like me everyone is wondering what happened. We had wanted a full nine-member bench to hear the case.”
He said the Perak PR leader’s council meets tonight in an emergency session to discuss the options available to them to pursue the matter.
“Rest assured that this is not over,” he said adding “we will take the matter to the people.”
“This matter is never over until and unless a fresh election is held and the people are given a chance to decide who should rule the state,” he added.
In a unanimous decision, the five-member bench ruled Tuesday that Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir is the rightful Perak Mentri Besar.
The decision was read out by Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Arifin Zakaria, who sat with Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff and Federal Court judges Datuk Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, Datuk Wira Ghazali Mohd Yusoff and Datuk Abdull Hamid Embong.
The bench ruled that the Court of Appeal was right in reversing the High Court ruling.
On the crucial question of dismissal of Datuk Nizar Jamaluddin, the apex court also ruled that if a Mentri Besar refuses to resign, his office is deemed vacated.
On another paramount issue, the bench held that a vote of no confidence could be determined by other means other than by a vote on the floor of the Perak State assembly.
The Pakatan can apply to the Federal Court to review its own ruling under Rule 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court to challenge the matter on constitutional points.
But they have to obtained leave first.
A senior PR leader said: “We might take this course as a matter of routine but we are not excited. We prefer to take the case to the people.”
The issue of who is the rightful Mentri Besar of Perak arose after three PR assemblymen defected to become BN-friendly independents last year.
Their defection left the PR without a simple majority to rule.
The Sultan thereupon called the BN assemblymen and the three independents to the palace to establish for his satisfaction that BN had a simple majority.
He dismissed Nizar and appointed Zambry as the new mentri besar because he commanded a majority in the assembly without taking a confidence vote in the assembly.
The High Court faulted the failure to take a confidence vote and reinstated Nizar as Mentri Besar even though he did not have a simple majority to rule.
The Court of Appeal held that the High Court had erred in law and fact and reinstated Zambry as Mentri Besar, opening the way for the Federal Court, on appeal by Nizar, to pronounce a final decision on the issue.
The victory will restore some order to the state government which had been hit by dissension since the collapse of the PR government.
It gives BN respite and a brief window of opportunity to win the hearts and minds of the public with populist policies until the next election.
Given the short time left, Zambry will have difficulties winning over Chinese voters. But Malay and Indian voters appear more amenable to his courtship, as several opinion polls show.
It is just possible, with the increase in support from Malay and Indian voters, for BN to win back the state but by a narrow majority in ther 59-seat state assembly.
One reason why rural Malays, political insiders say, are looking at PR less positively is because of the prominent role played by the role of DAP’s Ngeh Koo Ham and Nga Kor Ming in the former PR government.
BN has had some success in painting a picture of the two men as being too pro-Chinese.
They still play a big role in the resistance movement to the BN in the state speaking at dozens of ceramahs in the state and outside.
When in power they were seen as the real rulers of Perak and that Nizar was just a puppet fronting for them.
Out of power they are still seen as the main leaders of the resistance.
“Perhaps they should take a back seat and let others lead the resistance especially when speaking to the Malays,” a PAS leader said adding form and symbols of power are important to Malays.
“Malays must not feel that they have lost or are losing power in Perak,” he said. “That would spook them into Barisan’s arms,” the PAS leader said.
“We have got to re-evaluate all our campaign themes,” he said.
In 2008, 56 per cent of voters backed PR but Nizar himself has admitted that rural voters were drifting back to BN.
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