According to the Perak constitution, the ruler has a personal discretion in the performance of two functions - the appointment of a menteri besar and the withholding of consent to a request for the dissolution of the legislative assembly.
On Feb 4, Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin, the menteri besar, was granted an audience by the sultan to request for the ruler’s consent to dissolve the Perak State Assembly.
The next day, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak also requested for an audience with the sultan as the Perak BN chief and consent was granted for him to present himself before the ruler.
A former Court of Appeal justice NH Chan has argued how important it is for the Malaysia rulers to show justice in the discharge of their constitutional duties. Justice must not only be done, but it must be seen to be done.
The sultans must not be seen to be biased in the exercise of their very important discretionary powers. The event in Perak will be discussed for decades, among both legal practitioners and laymen alike.
Meanwhile, Perak is locked in a political impasse, and I wonder how the state government can lift itself from this paralysis.
Again, I agree with many commentators and ordinary people both inside and outside Perak, that the only solution to the whole charade is to hold a fresh state election soon. Unfortunately, given the waning appeal of Umno and Barisan Nasional as a whole, a state election in Perak is not going to happen any time soon,
It all goes to show how we Malaysians have arrived at these interesting but dangerous days!
source: malaysiakini
21/02/09
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