The Malaysian Insider

NOV 12 — “Show us any provision in the Perak Constitution empowering the Sultan of Perak to sack Nizar”. That was fundamentally the gist of the submission made by Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin’s legal team in the recently concluded appeal at the Federal Court.

Datuk Zambry Kadir’s lawyers as well as the Attorney-General, in asking the apex court to affirm the decision of the Court of Appeal, submitted that Zambry is the lawful mentri besar (MB) as he was appointed by the Sultan under Article 16 (2) of the Perak Constitution.

OCT 7 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak gave the following justification for fielding Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad as Umno’s candidate in Bagan Pinang: “The offence committed by Isa was merely a technical offence and it was not an offence under the law.” The statement was made in front of Malaysian students in France.

Pity the Prime Minister. Obviously he has committed a very grave error by making such a statement. I wonder what law he was referring to? Was he making a new law?

JUNE 29 — The government is looking into a proposal to reduce the detention period under the Internal Security Act from 60 to 28 days, said Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein. The home minister said this was among the suggestions made to review the controversial Act, which is up for review in the next Parliament meeting.

However, he cautioned that the revision of the ISA could not be rushed as there were many things that needed to be sorted out, such as getting feedback from related government agencies, such as the Immigration Department, prison authorities, police and non-governmental organisations.

JUNE 1 - It is 2.30 am in January 2010. Najib and Rosmah have just reached their official residence in Putrajaya.

Their arrival is met with a letter by the King declaring that Najib has to vacate the residence simply because the King has appointed a new Prime Minister to replace him.

The letter sets out the reason for this act – the Members of Parliament (MPs) from Pakatan Rakyat (PR), together with a few MPs from Barisan Nasional (BN), have expressed their undivided support for Anwar Ibrahim to become the new Prime Minister.

MAY 18 — As of today it is undisputable that Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir is a confirmed unlawful mentri besar of Perak. On the other hand Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin is a confirmed lawful mentri besar of Perak. That is the gist of the high court’s decision delivered by Justice Datuk Abdul Aziz on May 11, 2009.

How about the stay order granted by a single Judge of the court of Appeal on May 12, 2009 ? Does the stay order invalidate the high court’s decision? The short answer is a resounding no.

The stay order merely bars the lawful mentri besar from carrying out his lawful duties and in turn allows the unlawful mentri besar to continue performing his unlawful duties. That is the gist of the court of appeal’s decision delivered on May 12, 2009.