Wednesday 13 May 2009

So, Who IS the REAL Perak MB After the Single-Judge Court of Appeal's Decision?

Read here 'Who Wears the Pants' e on The Aisehman Blog

Excerpts:

Technically, Nizar IS STILL the Menteri Besar, as the High Court ruling declared that he was and is the rightful Menteri Besar.

In other words,
  1. Nizar was the Menteri Besar when he sought a dissolution of the state assembly from the Sultan,

  2. Nizar was the Menteri Besar when the Sultan refused,

  3. Nizar was the Menteri Besar when Pangkor Pele was sworn in to take his place, and

  4. Nizar was the Menteri Besar during the sitting under the tree (which makes the sitting valid as the rightful Menteri Besar had called for it).

    That is what the High Court declared.
The stay of execution granted by the Court of Appeal neither invalidates the declaration nor confers the post of Menteri Besar on Pangkor Pele (Zambry) .

If the status quo is to be maintained, then rightfully, Nizar should be the one in the Menteri Besar’s chair today, not Pangkor (Zambry). This is because the status quo that is applicable here is the status quo before the dispute over the rightful Menteri Besar arose.

The High Court ruling refers to the period between Nizar requesting for a dissolution and the Sultan rejecting the request, asking Nizar to tender his resignation, and concluding that should he refuse resignation, he would be deemed to have resigned:

The High Court ruled the Menteri Besar can only be removed via a vote of no confidence in the assembly, after which he shall tender his resignation. Since there had been no vote to show that Nizar had lost the majority of the confidence of the assembly and no resignation from office, he was still menteri besar, according to the High Court.

In other words, while the Sultan has the power to withold consent for dissolution and the authority to select as Menteri Besar a member of the assembly who commands the confidence of the majority of the assembly, he does not have the authority to determine if a Menteri Besar has lost that confidence.

Therefore, the status quo that is to be maintained today is one where Nizar is Menteri Besar.

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