Press Statement by Member of Parliament Klang Charles Santiago in Klang on 5th May 2009

The Perak state assembly is set to reconvene for the first time after a political coup which saw the collapse of a democratically elected Pakatan Rakyat government.  The coup was crafted by none other than Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, who is now banking on his 1Malaysia, People First, Performance Now slogan to boost his popularity among the public.

The assembly sitting would also see a showdown between the Barisan Nasional government and Speaker V Sivakumar.

The proposed assembly is ludicrous as former Perak Menteri Besar Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin’s judicial review against Zambry Abd Kadir to determine the rightful chief minister is now before the Kuala Lumpur High Court which has fixed a three-day hearing from Monday to hear the application.

Making plans to proceed with the sitting one day after the completion of the hearing would send out wrong signals and instigate people to speculate on the independence of the judiciary.

In a sharp contrast, Najib’s call for unity and his pledge to do away with “government knows the best” mentality simply does not gel with what is staged to happen this Thursday. Zambry would go on to occupy the position of Menteri Besar which he never deserved as he was not chosen by the people.

May 7 would also mark a shift in Malaysia’s political and Parliamentary history as an illegal government would be made legal. We would have an illegal government grappling for legitimacy under the watch of Najib, the premier who crones about putting the interest of the rakyat first.

While Zambry might be happy to carry on his duties weighed down by the rusted baggage of the past, Malaysians are furious. If Najib is serious about his reform plans, he must call for fresh elections in Perak to give the people another chance to elect their government. Or we could conclude that Najib was merely paying lip service.

As it is the Prime Minister has to work extra hard to convince Malaysians to endorse his leadership. Adding flavour to the political drama is Najib’s uncomfortable past which includes screaming headlines in blogs and independent news portals  linking him to the murder of a Mongolian woman and allegations of corruption amounting to billions of dollars in kickbacks pocketed through the purchase of arms.

The state assembly sitting would add to the list of Najib’s scandals. The rakyat saw through the coup which was orchestrated to entrench Najib’s position before the UMNO General Assembly where he was made the country’s premier.

Since the beginning of the political manoeuvring by Barisan Nasional, Perakians had shown total support for the opposition leaders and Pakatan Rakyat government, braving baton-wielding riot policemen to show their anger in public.

The matter got worse as the Perak Ruler worked in cohorts with Najib and the ruling National Front Coalition government. Instead of dissolving the state assembly and paving the way for fresh elections, the Sultan allowed Barisan Nasional to form a new government.

While there were back and forth wrangling over the right of the people to question the Ruler, former Perlis mufti has indicated that the public could do so as Raja Azlan Shah is accountable to the Rakyat.

While the political high drama in Perak has posed an awkward problem for the Sultan, all is not lost. Azlan Shah should take heed of Sivakumar’s petition and postpone the state assembly until the position of the Menteri Besar is decided by the High Court.

As for Najib, we could only hope that the setback faced by the ruling coalition at the last general election would have prompted the strengthening of UMNO’s democracy. Najib would certainly fail to inspire much confidence in the electorate if he allows the Thursday sitting.

But the recent political developments have not been promising. Therefore, if the assembly is held, I would like to urge every Malaysian to wear black to mourn the death of democracy. Bloggers should also have their web page in black for one week to send a strong signal to the Najib-led government.

It is clear that the premier is striving at a long political career. But Thursday’s events could contribute to Najib’s short-lived romance.

Charles Santiago

Member of Parliament, Klang

016- 626- 7797

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巴生国会议员查尔斯圣地亚哥文告，2009年5月5日于巴生

黑衣黑部落，悼霹雳民主

国阵发动政变，通过民主程序选出的民联政府倒台，霹雳州议会将于5月7日第一次召开州议会。这个政变由现任首相纳吉精心策划，如今他却极力倡议“全民大马”、人民优先和立即表现等口号以提高他的受欢迎度。

这次的州议会会议将是国阵政府和议长西华古玛的正式摊牌。

这次的会议是匪夷所思的，因为霹雳州务大臣闹双胞的司法审阅还在进行当中，吉隆坡高庭定下了从星期一开始的三天时间聆审。

打算在法庭聆审后马上召开会议，已经给了人民错误的讯号，使人质疑司法的独立性。

纳吉呼吁国民团结和抛弃“政府知道什么是最好”的思维，与这星期四召开的州议会形成了强烈的对比。赞比里将‘篡夺’州务大臣的位置，他完全不具资格，因为他非人民选出的合法大臣。

5月7日将在马来西亚的政治和国会史上留下不光彩的一页，一个非法的政府从此将被‘合法化’。我们将有一个似合法却非法的政府，一切都拜纳吉所赐，一个鼓吹‘人民优先’的新任首相。

赞比里不会在意这个难堪的过去，他乐于执行州务大臣的职务。但是人民却无法不生气。纳吉如果志在改革，他必须让霹雳州重新选举，归还人民选出新政府的权利。否则他的所有开明言论将被证明是光说不做。

纳吉正使出浑身解数说服大马人支持他的领导，他除了霹雳的政治闹剧之外，也有令人感到不舒适的过去。部落格令人惊叫的头条新闻和独立的新闻媒体，都把纳吉和蒙古女郎谋杀案和军购案的舞弊和巨额回扣挂钩。

这次的州议会会议将为纳吉的政治生涯增加污点。人民视纳吉为操纵霹雳州政变的幕后黑手，他是为了在巫统党选前巩固自己在党内的地位。

当国阵的政治把戏开始上演，霹雳州人民就全力支持民联政府，即使派出镇暴队也不能阻止愤怒的群众走上街头。

更糟糕的是，霹雳州统治者与纳吉和国阵政府站在同一阵线。苏丹非但没有解散州议会及准备重新选举，还御准国阵成立新政府。

人民是否有权质疑统治者，成了一个争议不断的问题，但是前玻璃市州宗教教长莫哈末阿斯里却指出人民有权批评统治者，因此苏丹阿兹兰莎必须向人民负责。

虽然霹雳州的政治闹剧使苏丹处于一个难堪的处境，但是一切还未结束。苏丹阿兹兰莎可以接纳西华古玛的诉求，展延州议会会议直到高庭决定谁是合法的大臣。

对于纳吉，我们只能希望上届大选惨败的国阵能够吸取教训，强化巫统的民主治理。如果允许召开星期四的州议会会议，纳吉无法提高选民对他的信心。

无论如何，最近的政治发展令人不感乐观。假设州议会会议成功召开，我谨此呼吁全马人民在当天身穿黑衣，哀悼民主的死亡。部落客也该把部落格的页首（Header）换上黑色一个星期，给纳吉领导的政府一个强烈的讯号。

首相似乎打算拓展一个长远的政治事业，但是星期四的事件将注定纳吉只能享受短暂的浪漫。

查尔斯圣地亚哥

巴生区国会议员

雪州行动党副主席

016- 626- 7797