Blockbuster Movie of the Week - "A tale of two MBs"

Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin appears determined to show up what Pakatan Rakyat contends is an illegitimate Barisan Nasional government that was sworn-in by Sultan Azlan Shah yesterday.

He is also determined to claim as legitimate his administration — today the embattled Nizar, called a traitor and a sore loser by Umno and BN leaders, chaired a meeting of his state executive councillors.

The meeting was held at the official menteri besar's residence next the city's landmark fountained roundabout, a short one-minute drive from Istana Kinta, the Ipoh palace of Sultan Azlan Shah.

Earlier this week, Sultan Azlan Shah asked for Nizar's resignation, to which the latter refused. The Ruler then declared the menteri besar's post vacant and promptly swore in Umno's Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir as the new menteri besar.

Today's meeting is in line with Nizar's contention that he had not been sacked as MB, as PR leaders contend a state Ruler does not have the power to dismiss because such powers lie only with the state legislature through a vote of no confidence.

It is also meant to shore up his arguments in what is now a roiling constitutional debate, and will likely be part of his legal case when the political impasse ends up in the courts, in a situation which is looking likely.

Nizar has now turned the official menteri besar's residence into his "seat of government," with party supporters guarding the compound while policemen watch on from outside.

- from The Malaysian Insider.


The Perak Pakatan Rakyat should find out what internal shortcomings led to its eventual collapse on 5 Feb 2009, said Umno veteran Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad.

"Perak had been unstable for some months before this.

"Why a high-ranking DAP member would leave the party. It's quite serious"

It was also learnt that Hee quit the party mainly because she deemed the appointment of state exco members not transparent and because she could not get along with Perak DAP state chief and senior executive councillor, Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham, and his cousin Nga Kor Ming, who is DAP state secretary and a state exco member.

Hee, who is deputy state assembly speaker, had said the state exco should have a Chinese woman and that Ngeh and Nga, who are both lawyers, were best suited for the posts of speaker and deputy speaker respectively.

"Hee Yit Foong has been unhappy since. Her resignation from the party shows that the internal conflicts are coming to a boil," said Fong.

"The fact that the post of deputy speaker is ranked above an exco member does not help, as the exco members wield greater power and get bigger perks (than the Speaker and Deputy Speaker), the same way that ministers have more power than the parliament Speaker and Deputy Speakers."

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Okay, Umno bought over our wakil rakyat. So what? If they are not for sale then Umno could not have been able to buy them. It is like prostitution. If there are clients then there will be prostitutes. It is the law of supply and demand. If there are no takers then there can be no givers as well. Simple!

We all know that Umno has tons of money. And RM10 million is nothing to Umno. If the Pakatan Rakyat people are so unprincipled then whom do we blame? Why blame Umno? Blame our people who worship money and pray to the Ringgit. Blame Pakatan Rakyat for fielding low quality people to contest the elections.

You can take the man out of the kampong but you can’t take the kampong out of the man. Low quality people can’t suddenly become high quality just because they are now wakil rakyat. They will still remain low quality and will kowtow to money because they have no maruah (dignity). That is, after all, what prostitutes do. They open their legs for money. And many in Pakatan Rakyat are prostitutes while those who manage prostitutes and called pimps.

If I were in Umno I would do exactly the same. I would use the immense wealth that Umno posses to buy over the prostitutes in Pakatan Rakyat. Anyway, is that not what we want Anwar Ibrahim to do? We want Anwar to form a new federal government by enticing at least 30 Parliamentarians from Barisan Nasional to cross over to the opposition. Najib did in Perak exactly what we want Anwar to do at federal level. So, why the sudden outrage? What if three State Assemblymen in Negerl Sembilan cross over and Pakatan Rakyat gets to form the new Negeri Sembilan state government? Would we still express outrage?

Let’s face it: we lost. Let’s just lick our wounds and learn from this bitter experience. Our leaders were stupid and we paid for this stupidity. We chose poor quality people as candidates. We knew that Umno was trying to buy over our wakil rakyat. We knew they would eventually succeed. But we just stood and watched without launching a pre-emptive strike -- such as dissolving the state assembly when there was time to do so and when we still had the power to do so.

That is the long and short of it. Let us lose like gentlemen. Sure, they did not play fair. The Sultan should not have forced the MB’s resignation or appointed a new MB from Umno when Nizar did not resign. Sure, there are questions of whether it was legal to do what the Sultan did. But he did, fair or otherwise. And the Sultan could not have done so had we been cleverer. We left the door open and they walked in. We should take the blame for that rather than moan and bitch. And, next time, lock all the doors. Thieves are thieves and will always be thieves. But we were sloppy and that allowed the thieves to get in. There is no denying that.

We lost the battle. But we are yet to lose the war. That is the big picture. So focus on the big picture and see how we can eventually win the war. That is more important. And how do we turn defeat into victory? How can we menang dalam kalah? We can turn defeat into victory if our leaders are clever. My only worry is whether they are clever enough to do this. Let us see.