THE TEMASEK REVIEW

By Lim Siow Kuan, Malaysian Correspondent

The executive and administrative deadlock in Perak has taken for the worse with a tit-for-tat political gamemanship between Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat bringing the state to a standstill.

Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, the mentri besar of the de facto Barisan Nasional (BN) government, has declared an attempt to hold an emergency sitting of the state assembly a “threat to national security.”

Perak Speaker V Sivakumar has called for an emergency sitting of the state assembly tomorrow where a vote is likely to declare support for the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government of Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin and call for the state legislature to be dissolved.

As the political battle between the two coalitions reach feverish pitch, the civil service has been dragged in rather insidiously to on the side of BN.

The Perak state secretary’s office has issued a directive to lock the gates tomorrow to the building, where the state legislature is located and thestate police chief had also issued a statement this afternoon in which he said the emergency sitting is “invalid” and advised members of the public not to gather at the state assembly.

Both the state secretary and police chief, being civil servants, have no right to overturn the decisions of the Speaker who is an elected member of the State Assembly. Under Section 124 of the Penal Code, it is a crime to wrongfully restrain any member of the legislature.

BN has filed law suits against Sivakumar which will be heard at Ipoh High Court. It will be interesting to find out if the judge has any authority to rule in the favor of BN. A precedent set in clear violation of the Constitution will have widespread repercussions for the implementation of the rule of law in Malaysia.

BN is fast running out of options except to utilize all levers of the state to keep themselves in power including the use of ISA to arrest the Pakatan assemblymen. Pakatan is strictly following the rules in accordance with Perak’s Constitution and it is the BN which is in contempt of the Sultan by showing scant respect for it.

The only recourse to resolve this impasse is to return to the people and seek a fresh mandate. Sultan Azlah Shah should not allow the rot to fester any longer. It is time to exercise his executive powers to dissolve and state assembly and call for elections. Anything less will ensure a protracted and messy fiasco which will make the state ungovernable in the months to come.

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