By Clara Chooi
IPOH, Feb 2 — Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin scoffed at Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir’s confidence about winning the next polls, saying that at least 80per cent of Perakians supported Pakatan Rakyat.
He rebutted Zambry’s claims that the Barisan Nasional could make a sweep of at least 34 seats in the 59-seat assembly and said that it would be amazing if they could even claim just half of the number or 17 seats.
“Zambry says that in the next elections, he can win at least 34 seats. I tell you, even if the BN can win just half of that, then it would be amazing,” he said at a ceramah in Taman Meru here last night.
Nizar also said that if Zambry were truly confident that the BN can perform so well in the next polls, then the latter should not be afraid to seek an audience with the Sultan and call for a dissolution of the assembly.
“I say to him (Zambry), if you feel so confident that you can win these 34 seats, then tomorrow we dissolve the assembly and go for elections. Why not let the rakyat decide?” he said.
He laughed off Zambry’s challenge asking for all 28 PR assemblymen to resign from their state seats in order to prove their confidence that the people would still vote them into power.“How can he be so silly? Resign from out seats? Everyone knows that election laws do not permit us to recontest our seats for the next five years if we resign,” he said.
In an interview with The Malaysian Insider yesterday, Zambry had challenged the PR representatives to vacate their seats if they were confident of the people’s support.
He had added that although the 28 would not be able to recontest their seats, the exercise of resigning was to test the PR’s popularity with the people and not their own.
“Zambry, if you truly believe in putting the people’s interest before your own, then why not seek an audience with the Sultan. We know that at least 80 per cent of the Perakians support the PR. They are with us,” he said.
The crowd of about 200 that gathered for the ceramah, though small in numbers, applauded loudly at this statement.
Nizar also said that the Feb 9 decision in the Federal Court on his case against Zambry would be watched by not only Malaysians but by the whole world.
This, he added, had been communicated to him during a meeting he had with an officer from the US Embassy at the Perak PAS headquarters yesterday.
The officer, Jeremy Nathan from the political section of the embassy, said Nizar, had mentioned that all eyes would be on the outcome of the case.
“I asked him why he said this and he told me that this case would be used as a future precedent in all other Commonwealth nations,” said Nizar.
He added that if the Feb 9 decision favoured Zambry, it would mean that the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister held office at the pleasure of the Agong or the Sultan.
“It also means that at any time, their positions can be removed at the whims and fancies of the Sultans or the Agong. It also means that there is no point in the country going into elections because the people are not given the power to decide who would run their government,” said Nizar.
In the Nizar vs Zambry case, the ousted mentri besar is challenging his removal, saying that the mentri besar did not hold office at the pleasure of the Sultan and hence, could not be forced to resign from the post.
Nizar had initially won the case in the High Court last year and was declared the rightful mentri besar of Perak but the ruling was overturned by the Court of Appeal.
Nizar subsquently brought the matter to the Federal Court.
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