Zambry back as MB - Sun

S. Tamarai Chelvi and Giam Say Khoon

PUTRAJAYA (MAy 12, 2009) : Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin clocked in as the Mentri Besar of Perak this morning following a High Court order declaring him the rightful chief executive of the state, but by afternoon, the seat went back to Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir.

Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir and Former Perak MB Datuk Tajol Rosli during the press conference at UMNO headquarter in Ipoh today.

This is because the Court of Appeal today granted an urgent application by Barisan Nasional mentri besar Zambry for a stay of execution of the High Court order made on Monday afternoon that Pakatan Rakyat's Mohammad Nizar is the rightful Mentri Besar, pending an appeal of the decision.

This means Nizar's position is now back to his position before 3.30pm on Monday, when the High Court decision was delivered.

In granting the stay of High Court judge Datuk Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim's order, Justice Datuk Ramli Ali said the case is unique as it does not only involve Nizar and Zambry alone, but the whole state.

He said the court has the jurisdiction to grant a stay order on declaratory orders.

"The court is satisfied that there are special circumstances in this case. Stay is granted," said Ramli, adding that the court will fix an early date to hear Zambry's appeal.

After the decision, Nizar's lawyer, Sulaiman Abdullah, asked whether the judge will be imposing any terms (conditions) but the judge said he would not.

Lawyer Ranjit Singh, who also represents Nizar, said they will file an application to set aside the stay order, before a panel of three judges of Court of Appeal, on an urgency basis.

Earlier, Sulaiman said "the best solution for this problem" is to fix an early date to hear the appeal.

He said Zambry should have gone back to the High Court for a stay order as in earlier attempts in the case, the Federal Court had ordered the case to go back to the High Court.

(On Monday, the High Court judge had asked the lawyers to put in written application for him to hear.)

Zambry's lawyer Datuk Cecil Abraham earlier told the court that if a stay is not granted, the "status quo" will be changed pending the appeal. He said if the Court of Appeal does not grant a stay, a dissolution can take place for fresh election.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, who is an intervenor in the case, said if Nizar is asking for a dissolution of the assembly now, it has to be due to loss of confidence of the majority.

"If he goes to back to the State Legislative Assembly, what will happen? Thirty Barisan Nasional supporters will say we don't support you," said Gani, adding that Nizar will be asking for a dissolution. "Either way, If the Sultan of Perak says 'No', he has to go back to the Assembly."

Gani said the matter has to be settled "once and for all" and that the state cannot have changes "like flips of a coin" every few months.

> Zambry's response:

Zambry told reporters at the Umno headquarters in Ipoh he would continue his job as the Mentri Besar until the legal process is completed.

"It may look messy for the people but it was Mohammad Nizar who challenged my status as the MB. I hope the people can understand as I understand the public views but this is a legal process we must respect."

Zambry said BN has abided by the law and vacated the MB's office once the High Court made its decision,

"For me (after the High Court's decision on Monday), I did not go to the office or seek an audience with the Ruler although we (including the executive councillors) were invited to the palace to attend the investiture ceremony in Kuala Kangsar and I had ordered all to leave the office."

Asked for his opinion on Mohammad Nizar's official request to seek an audience with the Ruler, which was sent this morning, Zambry said when the Court decides, whatever happened before that was no longer valid.

On the status of the state assembly sitting on May 7, which was branded by Perak DAP chairman Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham as illegal, Zambry said the opposition could call him the illegitimate MB but the right to call for a sitting lies with the Ruler, not with the Mentri Besar.

Asked if BN will call for an emergency sitting to pass a motion of no-confidence against Mohammad Nizar, Zambry said it was premature to talk about this.

Zambry has also lifted Nizar's order to suspend State Secretary Datuk Abdul Rahman Hashim and state legal adviser Datuk Ahmad Kamal Shahid.

> Nizar's response:

"Whatever court action, we need to sincerely stop the impasse. The only remedial action that can stop this impasse is a dissolution of the assembly."

Mohammad Nizar reached his office with his executive councillors, which was heavily guarded by the Federal Reserved Unit at 7.30am, and left 20 minutes later for Kuala Kangsar to attend the investiture ceremony at the palace.

He returned to the state secretariat around 1.30pm and vacated his office at 2.35pm.

Earlier, Ngeh, who represented Mohammad Nizar to hold a press conference at the MB office, said while the legal process can go up to the Federal Court, such a prolonged impasse will not do any good for the people and the best solution is to hold fresh elections.

It’s no state or national referendum on BN, says MCA - Sun

TAIPING (March 29, 2009): The Bukit Gantang parliamentary by-election is not a state or national referendum on Barisan Nasional (BN), said MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat.

“It is a by-election and it will only be voted by the people in the constituency, therefore it cannot be seen as a referendum. It can only reflect the fundamental sentiment of the people as the local voters will make a decision to test the sentiments of the people.

“It is normal for the people to think that the by-election will act as a referendum to the prime minister-in-waiting (Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak).

However, we must understand that it is not because of one man that will determine if the people are supporting us or not,” he told reporters at the by-election nomination centre.

“The people are facing a challenging time to make a living, they should decide whether they want to allow the never-ending fight between political parties to continue or choose to overcome living difficulties.

“I think it is time for the people to do the sum and see how many things have been implemented by the PR government, when it was in power as a policy approved is different from a policy implemented.

Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said the by-election would be a “hard battle” and BN should not take it lightly although it has 52 years of experience as the ruling party in the country.

“Although there are still a lot of weaknesses in the coalition that needs to be rectified, the PR government (in Perak) which only governed for a year, had shown all the weaknesses that it has been criticising BN for decades.

“I feel that the people must be more objective when assessing their choices. With the new BN leadership in place, the people should give the new team some time to reconstruct, as well as to reform and we will also have to explain more to the people on what we want to change.

“We need to change from the way we fight corruption, reform the judicial system, overcome public safety problems and the economic crisis and we need more time to see the results as the reform has only being put in place after the general election last year,” he added.

Three-corner 'combat' in Bukit Gantang - Sun

By Giam Say Khoon and Humayun Kabir

(From left) BN candidate Ismail Saffian, PAS’s Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin and independent candidate Kamarul Ramizu Idris.

IPOH (March 29, 2009) : The Bukit Gantang parliamentary by-election on April 7 will see a three-cornered fight by Barisan Nasional (BN), Pakatan Rakyat-PAS (PR-PAS) and an Independent.

The "combatants" are BN's Ismail Saffian, 49, from Umno, PR's Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin, 52, and entrepreneur Kamarul Ramizu Idris, 42.

Election Commission (EC) returning officer Datuk Mahmud Mursidi announced the three candidates at 11.20am after rejecting three objections in the Taiping Town Hall yesterday.



Nizar, the Perak PAS deputy commissioner, was the first to arrive at the nomination centre at 8.45am, followed by Ismail at 9am and Kamarul at 9.20am.

Ismail was accompanied by Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, vice-president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, BN's Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir and thousands of supporters while Mohammad Nizar was accompanied by PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, deputy president Nasharuddin Mat Isa and Perak state assembly speaker V.Sivakumar and their supporters.

About 2,000 BN supporters marched their way to the nomination centre with Ismail while Nizar was accompanied by about 10,000.

Said Muhyiddin: "Ismail is the best candidate the coalition can offer for Bukit Gantang. We try to meet every one voter to explain a few important matters like the status of the party, the correct interpretations of the constitution and other issues which we expect will be exploited by the opposition.

"We hope that the new BN leadership under the reign of (prime minister-in-waiting) Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak will be well received by the voters. If Ismail is elected, he would be able to raise problems faced by the people in parliament," he said, adding that he would also be campaigning in Bukit Selambau and Batang Ai.

Muhyiddin said he would be spending at least six days in Bukit Gantang as it is a big parliamentary seat which "we need to spend more time to talk to them and convince the voters to support us".

Nizar said democracy must be seen living through the ballot boxes of Bukit Gantang voters and this should reflect to the rest of the country that democracy is still alive in Perak.

"I have been a victim of BN's conspiracy to seize power in Perak which denied me the right to head the PR state government which is an insult to the intelligence of Perak voters who had made their choice of state government on March 8 last year.

"This wrong must be corrected democratically by the voters on April 7 and the BN must be taught a lesson that they cannot take the voters for a ride to fulfil their political agenda in the state," he added.

Nizar wants voters to stand united as Malaysians in their stand against the BN tactics of divide and rule for the past 50 years.

Earlier, DAP chairman Karpal Singh and his family visited Trong and was heading to the nomination centre when they were attacked by BN supporters with bottled drinks watched by the police.

No one was injured in the incident but Karpal later lodged a police report with the Larut Matang police district headquarters in the afternoon.

Penang Chief Minister and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the PR was fighting an uphill battle against BN's powerful political machinery "which is hell bent on winning the seat through all means at its disposal".

He dismissed speculation that PR would win by a 5,000-vote majority as a BN propaganda to confuse and mislead the voters into a false sense of security.

The main roads leading to the nomination centre like Jalan Kota and Jalan Taming Sari were sealed to allow for the gathering of supporters.

It's no state or national referendum on BN, says Tee Keat.

Zambry: Ex-servicemen to get land for houses - Star

March 30, 2009

BUKIT GANTANG: Ex-servicemen will be given land to build houses in planned villages in Perak, said Mentri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry Abd Kadir.

He said the state land office had been directed to reserve lots for the ex-servicemen in each district.

He also said he had forwarded a request from members of the Indian community around Taman Kaya to build a Tamil primary school to the Education Ministry.

“Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein has given me a positive reply,” he said at a people’s gathering in Taman Kaya here.

Dr Zambry also received more than 150 applications to join Umno at the function which was attended by International Trade and Industry Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Barisan Nasional’s candidate for the Bukit Gantang by-election Ismail Saffian.

He and Muhyiddin later visited the home of ex-serviceman Zainal Abidin Muhamed, 52, who recently lost his job as a school gardener.

He said he would help Zainal Abidin, a widower with an 11-year-old son suffering from a heart ailment, to get his job back.

Choose the path of progress, Muhyiddin urges voters - Star

March 30, 2009

TAIPING: Voters in the three by-elections for Bukit Gantang, Bukit Selambau and Batang Ai have been urged to choose wisely to ensure continuous development in their constituencies.

Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the people should put their trust in Barisan Nasional in view of the changes and expected reforms in the Government.

“There will be a change of leadership in the Government and the party, so we want to tell the people that this is a team that means business,” he told reporters at the Taiping Municipal Hall after the close of nominations for the Bukit Gantang by-election yesterday.

Muhyiddin will head the Barisan Nasional machinery for all three by-elections to be held simultaneously on April 7.

He also urged all Barisan workers to remain calm and not respond to any provocation by the opposition parties.

This is the time to get close to voters to explain about Barisan’s plans, he said.

On Bukit Gantang, Muhyiddin said PKR would try to use sympathy tactics by claiming that the opposition had been deprived of the state by Barisan.

However, he was confident that voters would not be easily swayed as Barisan was the legitimate state government endorsed by the Sultan of Perak.

“There is no reason for voters to be sympathetic towards them. During the campaign period, we will explain the situation to the voters.”

Feb 6 09 - Birth of United BN Perak

Feb 6, 2009 marked a historical day for Perakian as the PR government was dismissed by the HRH Sultan of Perak and replace by United BN headed by YAB Dato Dr. Zambry.