PERAK: Why is the BN trying to avoid elections in Perak?

Why is the BN trying to avoid elections in Perak? A bigger loss in Perak will not augur well for Mohd Najib Razak...The change of leadership is not at all the 'reforms' that BN supporters want - they want more - maybe even some other person, other than Najib, to lead UMNO...

- Following the recent defeat in the KT by-elections, that saw the fall of a BN seat to PR, with almost a 2,000 majority even after Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has decided to step-down, and Mohd Najib Razak is clearly uncontested for the handover of the UMNO/BN leadership, shows that Malaysians are now even more against the BN. In fact the loss in KT also shows just what they feel about Najib.

- An elections in Perak now may bring about a bigger PR win - and this would really look bad for Mohd Najib Razak...,yes, him more than out-going Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Najib cannot afford this at all - certainly not just before the March UMNO general meeting.

- Najib may be secure in his position - but his 'team' may suffer the consequence and they may lose in the UMNO elections. If all this that happened in Perak was happening after March, maybe we may have seen it played out very differently.

- I say maybe - because history shows that UMNO/BN has never been very good at losing.
Remember the banning of most of the Socialist Front parties, and the arresting/detaining of their leaders under Detention Without Trial laws..Stephen Kalong Ningkan and the Declararion of Emergency in Sarawak...Kelantan & the Declaration of Emergency...Local Council Elections and the reason why it was discontinued...

mmmm...

In any event, the call for elections in Perak is growing...but can the Sultan still dissolve the Legislative Assembly. Who can apply to the Sultan to do that? Nizar...or that possibly 'illegal' MB.

Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin is still the Perak Mentri Besar until he resigns of his own accord, or is removed by a vote of no-confidence in a formal sitting of the State Assembly, said Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

“Only the answer of the assembly counts, regardless how many sworn statements, defections, press conferences and declarations, or what forms of advertisement, display, inducement or force you bring to bear on the question,” he said in a statement yesterday.

“The Constitution makes no provision for his removal by any other means, including by petitions or instructions from any other authority,” he added.

He also said that a legitimate constitutional government draws all its authority from the consent of the people and only from that consent. The people consent because it is their government formed according to their constitution, whose leader is chosen through free and fair elections.

“To formally test the mandate of the current government, the question must either be put to the people through state elections, or to assemblymen through a formal vote in the Dewan,” said Tengku Razaleigh.

He said to remove and install governments in any other way was to violate the Constitution, erode the rule of law and run the risk of forming an illegal government. - Star, 7/2/2009, Ku Li: Why Nizar is still the MB

Even SUHAKAM, our rather conservative pro-government Human Rights Commission says so this time..

The Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) today expressed disagreement with the manner in which the political crisis in Perak was handled.

MCPX

The commission felt that only a fresh elections could resolve the uncertainty, especially when the legality of the resignation letters of the three Pakatan Rakyat state assemblypersons is in doubt.

Suhakam was responding to the 'political coup' staged by Barisan Nasional following the resignation of the four state assemblypersons.

While Pakatan had called upon Sultan Azlan Shah to dissolve the state assembly and call for a snap polls, the Perak ruler has opted to consent to the formation of a new state government.

However, Suhakam reminded the concerned parties that it is the basic human right of the people to choose the government of their choice.

"It appears that the method adopted in forming the new government for the state of Perak is questionable, consequently so is the legitimacy of the new state government.

"Suhakam noted that the Sultan of Perak has not consented to the dissolution of the state legislative assembly.

"Suhakam is of the opinion that new elections for the state legislative assembly, in line with the principle of human rights, will resolve the political uncertainty of the state government." - Malaysiakini, 7/2/2009, Suhakam calls for fresh polls