Nizar removed due to loss of confidence, court told

KUALA LUMPUR: The Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah, had not sacked Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin as Perak mentri besar as his removal from office was lawfully made under Article 16(6) of the Perak Constitution because he had lost the confidence of the majority in the State Assembly.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail submitted in the High Court here Tuesday that the Sultan performed his duty under the Perak Constitution, and had carefully considered the facts and circumstances before declaring on Feb 5, that Barisan Nasional had the majority in the state assembly.

“The Sultan of Perak had clearly performed his function in the most honourable way that I have seen,” said Abdul Gani, who appeared as the intervener in the judicial review proceeding filed by Mohammad Nizar on Feb 13.

Mohammad Nizar, 52, filed the suit to seek declaration that he is still the rightful mentri besar, and an injunction to bar Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, who was appointed mentri besar on Feb 6, from discharging his duties.

“His Royal Highness, in making sure that there were no irregularities in his decision, had met and interviewed the three assemblymen, Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi (Behrang), Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu (Changkat Jering) and Hee Yit Foong (Jelapang) to make sure that Barisan Nasional had their support.

“His Royal Highness met all the 31 state legislative assemblymen who pledged their support to Barisan Nasional,” said Abdul Gani, who is leading a team of seven senior federal counsel.

Gani further submitted that since Mohammad Nizar had lost the confidence of the majority, he must automatically resign from being the mentri besar as provided under Article 16(6) of the Perak Constitution.

“The word ‘shall resign’ in Article 16(6) means ‘mandatory.’ It is not the intention of the legislature that a mentri besar can choose not to resign.

“If you (have) lost the majority, then what do you do, do you still hang around? The moment he loses his majority, he must resign. We cannot have a mentri besar who (does not have) the confidence of the majority,” he argued.

Abdul Gani said the Sultan never sacked a mentri besar, adding that it was honourable for a mentri besar to resign when he had lost the confidence of the majority.

“That’s the law and that is the democratic process,” he said.

Abdul Gani said there was no constitutional provision requiring a motion of no-confidence to be issued before Mohammad Nizar could be removed from office.

“The Sultan of Perak had personally ascertained the facts, by calling the 31 assemblymen, before arriving at his judgement that the applicant (Mohammad Nizar) had lost confidence of the majority,” he said.

Earlier, Mohammad Nizar who continued with his testimony in the cross examination proceeding, told the court that he was only aware of the withdrawal of the three assemblymen’s resignation letters after an audience with the Sultan at 5pm on Feb 4.

“I only knew about it after I left the palace when my officer informed me over the telephone at 6pm that a news bulletin said that Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak (now prime minister) claimed the trio had hopped to Barisan Nasional and that Barisan has the majority,” he said. -- Bernama