Thesun 2009-05-15 Page01 Perak Poser

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No. 4759 PP 2644/12/2009 (023092)

Friday May 15, 2009

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PERAK POSER

Away from the courtroom, signs are emerging that the political rivals in the fight for control of Perak are ready to talk to sort out the political impasse. This was what they said yesterday about calls for a fresh election in the state to determine the people’s mandate:

Barisan Nasional is ready to face the people in the event of a fresh election in Perak. BN is not afraid. We have got to face the rakyat and we will face the rakyat when the time comes. A state election is one of the options to resolve the crisis in Perak. But, under the constitution, it is the Sultan of Perak’s discretion to decide whether an election should be held. So, it is not something that has to happen.” – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak

Opposition leaders are ready to meet Najib to discuss a solution to the Perak political crisis, but the way forward is for the people of Perak to go to the polls again. We are willing to discuss with and to listen to Najib regarding the crisis. We seek a peaceful, just and amicable solution with the PM... but not in forming a unity government. The mandate must be given to the people of Perak to decide, not the courts. We are willing to cooperate to respect the Constitution.” – Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim

The best way is for a vote of noconfidence to be moved in the state assembly to set up a new government under the BN leadership. It (an election) costs money. The result, I think, is foregone conclusion. What needs to be done is for the dewan to sit and, if the BN really has the majority, it can move a motion of no-confidence in the (Pakatan Rakyat) mentri besar. Then, you can set up another government.” – Former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad

» Stories on Page 4

Suu Kyi charged over US visitor YANGON: Myanmar’s military junta charged pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday with breaching the terms of her house arrest over an incident in which a US man swam across a lake and entered her home. The 63-year-old opposition leader faces trial on Monday in what critics said was an excuse for Myanmar’s generals to extend the latest period of her detention, due to expire in less than two weeks. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate and her two maids appeared in court at Insein Prison near Yangon, hours after police whisked her away from the residence where she has been detained most of the past two decades. The authorities have charged Suu Kyi and her two maids under the Law Safeguarding the State from the Dangers of Subversive Elements, lawyer Hla Myo Myint said. Suu Kyi and the others face a prison term of between three and five years, the

lawyer said, which would leave her behind bars next year when the junta has said it will make good on a long-standing vow to hold fresh elections. US national John Yettaw, who was detained last week for sneaking into her off-limits residence and staying there for two days before he was caught, was also charged with breaching a security law and immigration conditions, he said. Suu Kyi, whose health has been fragile in recent days, would not be allowed to return home while the proceedings are under way but would be held at a special house on the grounds of the prison, said her main lawyer Kyi Win. He pinned the blame on Yettaw – whom authorities in Yangon have described as a 53-year-old Vietnam War veteran – saying that Suu Kyi had asked him to leave her house. “We have to blame him,” Kyi Win said. “He is a fool.” Kyi Win said before the court hearing

that Suu Kyi “wanted to say her health situation is good and that she is in good spirits”. Witnesses said a convoy flanked by police vehicles sped away from her crumbling residence early yesterday and arrived 15 minutes later at the prison, which holds many opponents of Myanmar’s military regime. Her party said at the weekend she was in poor health and called for her to be given urgent medical assistance after her doctor was arrested for questioning over the incident with the American. She was unable to eat and was put on an intravenous drip twice in the past week, suffering from dehydration and low blood pressure. Suu Kyi has spent 13 of the past 19 years in virtual isolation in her home since the junta refused to recognise her party’s landslide victory in the country’s last elections in 1990. – AFP

Suu Kyi poses with a photo of her father Bogyoke Aung San, known as the father of Myanmar’s independence movement, in this file picture dated 2002.