only if they would allow it.
But you can bet the cowards in BN will never allow that to happen. They are more used to their version of self-righteous ‘rule of the law’ a la Syed Hamid, on their own dictated terms a la Najib with acquiescence a la Pak Lah.
General Elections and By-elections are necessary nuisance which are wasteful to them and if possible, they would have avoided them altogether. Talk about unnecessary expenses of having re-elections because of dissolution of state assembly is a load of crap. Just look at the huge amounts they spent in Permatang Pauh and Kuala Terengganu, and you would realise why Malaysia will be the only country which will not be affected by the world economic turmoil, at least not to the present leaders.
According to a Malaysiakini report:
IPOH, Feb 9 — Perak DAP has proposed a Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin versus Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir contest for the Bukit Gantang by-election, in what is already shaping up as a referendum on the political impasse in Perak.
Perak DAP Chairman Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham mooted the idea at this evening’s emergency general meeting.Tonight, at a Chap Goh Mei event in the new village of Bali, Tronoh, secretary Nga Kor Ming expounded on the idea, calling it a battle to see who is the rightful mentri besar.
“He is the best candidate for Bukit Gantang,” the Taiping MP said. “As you can see, even the Chinese here support Nizar,” he told the 300-strong crowd.
“Then we will see who the people accept as their mentri besar,” he told the audience at this Chinese outpost about 30km south of Ipoh.
“We will take the by-election as a fresh mandate against the coup d’etat by Barisan Nasional,” he told reporters after the dinner which was also attended by Nizar and Ngeh.
He also cited a recent Merdeka Centre poll that suggested only 41 per cent of respondents agreeing Datuk Seri Najib Razak would make a good prime minister.
According to Nga, an NTV7 SMS poll also saw only five per cent of respondents saying BN would take Bukit Gantang in the imminent by-election.Nizar, however, told reporters that the decision on a candidate will be up to the Pakatan Rakyat leadership.
When quizzed on whether the contest would determine whose side Perakians were backing in the current stand-off, he said “it is too soon to analyse.”
Earlier today, Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin had said that the by-election would be a measure of people’s confidence.
“Before that, the BN government must prove that stability and confidence can be returned,” he said. - By Shannon Teoh
Meanwhile, Wong Chin Huat, an election specialist, has this to say:
My views on the Perak Coup
Tuesday, February 10, 2009 ·
These are my views on the Perak coup and the related issues:
1. Elected representative has every right to change his/her affiliation, but no right to bring the voters’ mandate with him. Political parties should make commitment to repeal Article 48A (6) - and similar clauses in state constitutions - which bars an elected representative to re-contest in election for five years after resignation. Instead, a clause can be inserted to Article 51 “Resignation of Members” to the effect that a parliamentarian will be deemed as resigning if s/he changes his/her party affliation without the consent of the party on whose ticket s/he had won the seat.
2. A motion of no-confidence must be passed in the legislative assembly to topple a government. If a major government bill is defeated, which implies an effective no-confidence vote, the incumbent government must be allowed to seek a motion of confidence if it so wishes and is considered to have been ousted after losing such vote. (This is to prevent the defection/partisan act of the speaker who may deny the incumbent government its last chance to prove its viability.)
3. When a motion of no-confidence is passed, the royal consent should not be withheld on the request by the PM/MB/CM to dissolve the Parliament/Assembly. Any exception must be of extraordinary circumstances and well justified. This is to ensure the check-and-balance mechanisms between the Executive and Legislative branches in a parliamentary system - vote of no-confidence and dissolution of the legislature - must not be subverted. An artibrary withholding of the royal consent on this issue effectively renders the Executive powerless before the Legislature.
On Perak, specifically,
1. the swearing-in of the new MB is a coup.
2. the only legitimate government is that headed by Mohd Nizar and supported by others.
3. the best way to solve this crisis is to dissolve assembly dissolution and let the voters decide whom to punish.
My related articles on thenutgraph.com:
Feb 2 - BN will not win from Perak defections
Feb 5 - Snap poll best bet
Feb 6 - Perak must not fail
Wong Chin Huat
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