Published April 17, 2009

Court lifts suspension on Zambry, excos

Decision allows them to attend state assembly, gives Barisan slim majority

By S JAYASANKARAN
IN KUALA LUMPUR

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MALAYSIA'S Federal Court yesterday decreed that Perak Speaker V Sivakumar did not have the power to suspend the state's chief minister Zambry Abdul Kadir and six Barisan Nasional executive council members from the state assembly.

Mr Zambry: A suit over the legitimacy of his chief minister appointment may also be rendered irrelevant

The decision will allow the seven men to attend the state assembly and enable the Barisan to command a slim majority in the House. This can effectively block any attempt by the opposition to table a no-confidence motion against the Barisan government.

The decision also restores a semblance of order in the state which has been in constitutional limbo since Feb 6. On that day, Sultan Azlan Shah, the state's monarch, ruled out fresh polls and recognised Barisan as the government after four oppositionists resigned their respective parties to become 'independents' supportive of the BN. The crossovers toppled the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government.

Even so, the then chief minister, Nizar Jamaluddin, refused to resign and, indeed, still claims to be the state's legitimate leader. To compound the matter, Mr Sivakumar reduced the BN's numbers in the assembly by suspending the seven men on 'disciplinary' grounds.

Given that the decision came from the country's apex court, the ruling could also render a separate suit over the legitimacy of Mr Zambry's appointment as chief minister irrelevant and will be considered a major setback to the Pakatan Rakyat's attempts to regain power.

Even so, some lawyers are of the view that the Federal Court seemed to have overlooked the constitutional principle of the separation of powers between the executive, the judiciary and the legislative assembly. In five similar cases previously, the Federal Court had affirmed the principle in dismissing suits brought against Speakers belonging to the Barisan.

'It will be interesting to see how the Court distinguishes this case from the five others,' a constitutional lawyer told BT. The decision, from a five-man bench, was unanimous and a written judgement is expected later.

As a result of its ruling, the suspensions on Mr Zambry and his executive council have been lifted and they can now attend sittings. Mr Zambry told reporters a notice calling for the legislature to sit will be issued next week.

The decision was also timely which, in itself, dealt another blow to the opposition. The reason: the state assembly must, by law, be convened by May 13 or else it will be automatically dissolved. Dissolution was exactly what the opposition was hoping for because they had thought they could win the state if fresh polls were called.