Thesun 2009-04-17 Page01 Suspension Order Lifted

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No. 4740 PP 2644/12/2009 (023092)

Friday April 17, 2009

TELLING IT AS IT IS

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By-election No 6: Penanti rep resigns by Opalyn Mok [email protected]

GEORGE TOWN: Former Penang deputy chief minister (I) Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin (pic) resigned yesterday as Penanti assemblyman, confirming weeks of speculation that there would be a by-election for the state seat. Mohammad Fairus, 33, said in a statement that he decided to resign as a state representative to protect the interest of his party, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR). He said he also wanted to give full attention to pursue his doctorate, as well as spend more time with his family, something that had to take a back seat as he had to fulfil his duties as an assemblyman. “This will also give me space to focus on efforts to clear my name from all accusations hurled at me all this time,” said Mohammad Fairus who is under probe by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. He expressed his gratitude to his constituents for their support throughout his 13-month tenure as assemblyman. He had been under media glare for all the wrong reasons recently, the latest being the MACC probe relating to quarrying activities. Over the past few days, reporters had waited at the Butterworth Sessions Court, just in case he is charged. The politician tendered his resignation as DCM (I) and state executive councillor effective April 8 and since then, PKR has yet to name a replacement. Just yesterday, Mohammad Fairus had issued a threat, through an interview with a Chinese daily, to PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to clear his (Fairus’s) name or else he will disclose a scandal involving the Penang state government and also PKR (see page 8). With Mohammad Fairus’s resignation as the Penanti assemblyman, the Election Commission will have to hold a by-election for the seat within 60 days of being informed by State Assembly speaker Abdul Halim Hussain. Penang PKR chairman Datuk Zahrain Mohamad confirmed that Mohammad Fairus’s resignation was sent to Abdul Halim yesterday. Abdul Halim has confirmed receiving the quit letter. The Penanti seat is under the Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency, held by Anwar. It has an electorate of 15,421 – of which 70% are Malays, 26.7% Chinese and 2.7% Indians. A Penanti by-election will not be a poll to choose just the next state assemblyman but also the new deputy chief minister. It was reported that DAP and PAS, PKR’s partners in the Pakatan Rakyat coalition, are not happy about forcing another by-election as the people were suffering from election fatigue. There have already been five by-elections since the March 8, 2008 general election.

Suspension order lifted P

UTRAJAYA: The Federal Court lifted yesterday Perak State Assembly speaker V. Sivakumar’s two-month-old order suspending Mentri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir and six state executive councillors from state assembly sittings. In a unanimous decision, the five-member panel ruled that the suspension order (18 months for Zambry and 12 months for the councillors) was ultra vires the Perak Constitution and therefore, null and void. Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff said under Article 63 of the Perak Constitution, the court had the power to dispose of an originating summons filed by Zambry and the six councillors at the High Court on March 2 with no order as to costs. Alauddin, who sat with Chief Judge of Malaya Datuk Arifin Zakaria and Datuk Nik Hashim Nik Ab Rahman, Datuk S. Augustine Paul and Datuk Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin, had

adjourned the hearing for 45 minutes before coming to the decision. Zambry and Zainol Fadzi Paharuddin, Datuk Ramly Zahari, Hamidah Osman, Datuk Saarani Mohamad, Mohd Zahir Abdul Khalid and Dr Mah Hang Soon brought the case to the Federal Court under Article 44 of the Perak Constitution to seek a declaration that Sivakumar’s suspension order was null and void. They initially filed an originating summons at the High Court, seeking a declaration that their suspension was null and void. Zambry’s counsel, Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin, told reporters he saw this as a landmark decision. He said the speaker should not have issued the suspension order on Zambry as he was appointed mentri besar by a proclamation of the Sultan Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah. He said with the decision, the two suits at the High Court in Ipoh against Sivakumar on

the Perak Constitution had been disposed of – namely yesterday’s case and the suit by the three assemblymen, who quit their parties to become independents, which was disposed of by the Federal Court last Thursday. Zambry’s other counsel, Datuk Hafarizam Harun, said the decision meant Zambry and the executive councillors could now attend the assembly meeting which has to be held before May 13. When asked if the decision affected Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin’s suit against Zambry, which was fixed for hearing on May 5 at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, he said Mohd Nizar should withdraw his action. Mohd Nizar is seeking a judicial review on the legitimacy of Zambry’s appointment. Hafrizam said the Federal Court decision meant that Zambry was the rightful MB. Sivakumar’s counsel Sulaiman Abdullah said the speaker had no intention to breach the law and his suspension order against

Soft landing... A POLICE officer conducting investigations at the edge of a rice field where a car and a motorcycle landed after an accident at Km9.5 of the Kangar-Mengkuang Layar road on Wednesday evening. Two people (the motorcyclist and a front seat passenger) died when the vehicles collided. The rider, Alif Asraff Abdullah Suhaimi, 24, and car passenger Mohamad Tarmizi Ali, 20, died at the scene of the accident. The driver of the car and another passenger were treated at Hospital Tuanku Fauziah for injuries.

Zambry and the six was right. When asked what would happen in the next assembly meeting, Sulaiman said: “We just wait and see what will happen because the speaker is still in the sitting.” He also said that in this case, nobody had won or lost because during the assembly sitting, the speaker still had the power to conduct the proceedings. Sulaiman added that he would take instruction from Sivakumar on whether to file for a review of the decision. In Lumut, Zambry called on the Opposition in Perak to accept the Federal Court decision. He, however, could not say when the assembly will convene but did not discount the possibility that notice to the effect would be issued tomorrow or early next week. The state assembly has to sit before May 13 and the speaker can ask for the consent of the Sultan of Perak to dissolve the assembly if it did not convene by that date. – Bernama