PUTRAJAYA – Who is the rightful Mentri Besar of Perak?

Will Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, 47, maintain his position? Or will Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, 52, who lost his place after three defections from the Pakatan Rakyat coalition last February return to  helm the state?

This will be decided on Tuesday by a five-man bench of the Federal Court led by Court of Appeal president Alauddin Mohd Sheriff.

The others on the bench are Chief Judge of Malaya Arifin Zakaria and Federal Court judges Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, Ghazali Mohd Yusoff and Abdull Hamid Embong

They will give the decision on whether Zambry  retains the post or Mohammad Nizar reclaims the office.

The judgment will also determine the constitutional issue of whether a head of state can look beyond the legislature to decide if the head of government has lost the confidence of the majority of the elected representatives.

This is the final step in the appeal by Mohammad Nizar in his attempt to reclaim the Mentri Besar post.

Nevertheless, the losing party can apply to the Federal Court to review its own ruling under Rule 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court to challenge the constitutional points.

Bench heard from both sides

The five-man bench deferred its judgment on Nov 5 last year after having heard submissions in the appeal from counsels representing both sides.

Mohammad Nizar, of PAS, was appointed as MB after the March 2008 general election although the DAP had won most of the seats for the coalition, which also included the PKR.

However, as the state constitution provided for only a Muslim to hold the post, it had been left to PAS and the PKR to nominate their representative. The  appointment went to Mohammad Nizar.

The conflict over who is the rightful Mentri Besar arose after two assemblymen from PKR and another from the DAP quit their parties to become independent state assemblymen. This left Pakatan and Barisan with 28 assemblymen each in the 59-seat Perak legislative assembly.

Defections gave edge to Barisan

The three assemblymen gave their support to the Barisan, giving the coalition the edge to take over the state government on Feb 3, 2009.

Adding to this crisis is the fact that Mohammad Nizar had refused to resign and had repeatedly stated that he is the legal Menteri Besar until he is removed through a vote of no confidence or snap election. —  Malaysian Mirror