March 8 Marks Historic Political Milestone

by WisdomMountain | March 8, 2009 at 09:43 am

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March 8 marks historic political milestone in the history of democracy in Malaysia.

It is on this date last year that a political tsunami swept five of the 13 states in Malaysia into opposition hands in Malaysia's General Election.

The National Front ruling regime lost its two-third majority control of Malaysian Parliament.

After 50 years of independence,Malaysians gave a resounding message of "Enough is Enough".

The unprecedented electoral losses resulted in open public calls by senior UMNO leaders for Malaysian premier Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to resign.

Abdullah, anointed by former premier Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed as his successor and subsequently disowned and criticized by Mahathir who gave up his membership of UMNO in protest over his "half past six" leadership, is scheduled to hand over power to his deputy Datuk Seri Najib Razak late this month ahead of his earlier planned June 2009 exit.

Since March 8,2008,Malaysians have witnessed the emergence of naked power politics struggle.

This fierce frenzy tussle wrangle has taken a turn for the worst - naked display of abusive threats of death and assassinaton,open contempt of the sanctity of parliament and mobilised force since last month.

Elder stateman Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah,a former Malaysian finance minister,who lost the contest for UMNO president post to ruthless former premier Tun Dr.Mahathir Mohamed,pointed out that National Front's takeover of the Perak state government has set off a chain reaction of illegalities.

Perak,it seems, is without a legitimate government.It is facing a historic constitutional crisis.

"When the government of the day ignores the principles such as separation of powers, the Constitution becomes a dead piece of paper," he warns.

On Friday (March,6,2009),Perak State Assembly Speaker V.Sivakumar filed suit in Kuala Lumpur High Court to declare the Perak state legal adviser has no authority to represent him in the Ipoh High Court on March 3 and 5.

Sivakumar, as head of the legislative branch of the Perak government and not a civil servant or member of executive government, argues he does not need the state legal adviser to represent him.

His suit against the Perak state legal adviser is to counter brazen misrepresentation by UMNO lawyers that dictated Sivakumar must be represented by nobody but the Perak state legal adviser only!

On Tuesday,Judicial Commissioner Ridwan Ibrahim made a surreal court ruling.

He dismissed Sivakumar five-member high powered legal team headed by renowed Malaysian constitutional lawyer Tommy Thomas.

Then in the afternoon, he granted National Front Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Dr. Zambry Abdul Kadir and his six-member executive council an injunction restrainingSivakumar from convening any meetings "purported to be state assembly sittings".

This was done in chambers with state legal adviser Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md. Shahid purporting to represent Sivakumar.

This misrepresentation was immediately shot down by Sivakumar in a statement later that he had neither communicated with or authorized the state legal adviser to represent him.

On Thursday, the assistant state legal adviser Zulkarnian Hassan also purported to represent Sivakumar in the hearing of preliminary objections of two suits filed against Sivakumar.

The first suit is by the three political frogs who switched allegiance from People Alliance to National Front causing the power balance swing - the two state assemblymen for Behrang and Cangkat Jering who are facing corruption charges over a big land deal and former Perak state assembly deputy speaker and state assemblywoman for Jelapang,now cursed and branded by her supporters as betrayal of her party and public trust.

The trio want the court to declare they are still state representatives. Sivakumar has ruled they have resigned and vacated their seats as he holds copies of their signed letters of resignation.

The second suit is filed by Zambry and his six stooges to challenge Sivakumar's suspension order on them for contempt of the state assembly.

In his Kuala Lumpur High Court suit, Sivakumar points out that the state legal adviser has acted "negligently in breach of his contract and duty resulting in an injunction order" being granted against him.

He seeks a declaration that the injunction is null and void and not enforceable at all.

Sivakumar has also filed appeals against Ridwan's dismissal of his legal team at both the Ipoh High Court and the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya.

Interestingly enough, Ridwan allowed Zambry to be represented by a team of UMNO lawyers.And Zambry, is represented by the Perak state legal adviser in the Mentri Besar versus Mentri Besar case.

Ridwan,whose two-year contract as Judicial Commissioner expired on February 28,2009, has somehow had it extended by another year, after the controversial surreal court ruling on March 3,2009!

On Friday (March 6,2009), the constitutional law suit filed by ousted People Alliance Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin challenging the legitimacy of Zambry in the Mentri Besar versus Mentri Besar case escalated to the Federal Court.

Justice Lau Bee Lan ruled that it should be referred to the Federal Court for clarity,finality and certainty as it involves vital interpretation of Article 16(6) of the Perak Constitution.

Meanwhile,Malaysians debate vital questions relating to the wisdom,impartiality and independence of the Perak sultan,Election Commission, Perak state secretary, Perak legal adviser, Perak chief police officer, Judicial Commissioner Ridwan and others involved in the Perak constitutional crisis.

Not to be forgotten is the role of the outgoing premier and incoming premier.

Najid is the Perak UMNO chairman who orchestrated the political coup or power grab causing the Perak impasse of two Mentris Besar and power play dynamite.

The internal fight for power and position within UMNO has also become very contentious.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) has picked up a minister's political secretary on suspicion of involvement in "bribes for votes" money politics
in the forthcoming UMNO general assembly elections beginning March 24.

Abdullah yesterday(March 7,2009) urged the MACC to speed up the probe and "clear him if he is innocent".

The suspect was stopped at a bistro at 11 p.m. on Wednesday. He had Malaysian ringgit 75,000 in his car. His boss is vying for an UMNO Supreme Council post.

According to the Minister in charge of law, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz,rampant money politics by UMNO politicians have "gone underground" .

Apparently, disgruntled UMNO delegates have gone straight to MACC to lodge numerous complaints.

Nazri, who tabled the MACC Bill, has chosen to stay out of the UMNO elections to promote the concept of "integrity".

It is a laudable decision as Nazri has served in the UMNO Supreme Council for 19 years and the Malaysian cabinet for 10 years.

Because of money politics, I believe Tengku Razleigh lost to Mahathir and has since been blocked from leading UMNO.

His advice to stop the current blatant violation of the Malaysian Federal Constitution without any restraint or sense of decency should be heeded as the Constitution is the Foundation and Source of Legal Authority underlying the existence of Malaysia.

So better think thrice before Malaysia spirals into violence and chaos, police,civil servants, ministers and others must set a good example to observe law and order and principles of justice,right and reason.