Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Pakatan MB, excos vacate office - Malaysiakini

May 12, 09 2:47pm

Pix courtesy of Malaysian Insider

Pakatan Rakyat Menteri Besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin and his executive councillors vacated their office this afternoon.

Saying they respect the Court of Appeal's decision, the MB and his excos left the state secretariat building in Ipoh at about 2.30pm, some seven hours after taking over the reins of administration again.

Pakatan lawyer Chan Kok Keong said they are waiting for the sultan's reply to Nizar’s request for dissolution of the state assembly.

He pointed out that the request was made before the Court of Appeal delivered the stay order this afternoon.

"It (the request) was delivered early this morning and we are still hopeful that we will not be a disappointed for a second time.

"Regardless of whether any menteri besar has requested for a dissolution, the state constitution provides that the sultan has the discretion to dissolve the assembly without advice," he said in a statement.

"Therefore, by comparison, (Barisan Nasional's) Zambry's (Abd Kadir) claim to be the lawful MB is weaker than Nizar. At best, there are two menteris besar.

"At worst, Zambry is an imposter whose claim to hold on to power has neither legal basis nor authority," he added.

According to Chan, Nizar's position is morally and legally better than Zambry's.

Although a stay order was granted, he said, at least Nizar has a court declaration whereas Zambry has none.

"The judgment has only been stayed, not set aside. The moral victory is still ours although the legal victory has been paralysed by the stay order.

"What took weeks to prepare and after painstaking efforts of arguing the finer points, the (Kuala Lumpur High Court) judge delivered his judgment. In less than half a morning, the legal effect of that judgment was suspended by a single judge of the Court of Appeal," he said.

"We believe that the weight of authority of (high court judge) Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim’s judgment must be greater than the order of the Court of Appeal," he added.

More news at: www.malaysiakini.com

No comments: