Police report to be lodged over missing PKR men

IPOH: Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin confirmed that neither the state nor family members have been able to reach the two Perak state executive councillors who have gone missing.

The state government will lodge a police report after consulting with their families, he told a press conference here Sunday.

Nizar urged the two PKR men -- Behrang assemblyman Jamaluddin Mat Radzi and Changkat Jering assemblyman Mohd Osman Jailu -- to come forward even if they have defected to another political party.

Jamaluddin, 52, is the Perak Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Committee chairman while Mohd Osman, 57, heads the State Tourism and NGO Committee.

They were charged in a Sessions Court on Aug 25 last year with allegedly receiving bribes over the application for a RM180mil housing project in Sri Iskandar in Perak Tengah. Their case comes up for hearing on Feb 10.

State PKR chief Osman Abdul Rahman accused Umno and Barisan Nasional of trying to lure the exco duo, saying their disappearance had something to do with it.

After Umno’s Bota assemblyman Datuk Nasarudin Hashim crossed over to PKR last week, PKR and Umno have been involved in a psychological war, with both accusing each other of trying to pinch their assemblymen.

Jamaluddin and Mohd Osman have not been seen in public since Nasarudin crossed over to PKR last Sunday, with the media also failing to reach them for comments.

Speculation had been rife in Perak that the exco duo were going to resign from PKR and become Independents before joining Umno later.

Pakatan Rakyat currently holds 32 state seats against Barisan’s 27 in the 59-seat State Assembly.

Star Online
01/02/09

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The main worry is that the Sultan of Perak will reject a dissolution of the State Assembly for fresh polls and allow Umno to take over the state govt.

Hopefully, there will be fresh polls to settle the matter decisively once and for all.

The best alternative is for by-elections in the seats of defecting state asemblymen who have resigned their seats. In that case, they won't be eligible to stand for the next five years.