After vote against MB, Perak Pakatan tells Perikatan to relinquish control of state government

IPOH, Dec 4 — The Perak Perikatan Nasional (PN) should not remain the state government as the vote of confidence against its mentri besar showed it was “fragile,” said the rival Pakatan Harapan.

State Opposition Leader Abdul Aziz Bari said Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu’s failure to survive the confidence vote also meant all his state executive councillors must depart with him.

“Even though the administration has fallen, it still can function as the caretaker government and I believe the Perak Sultan will take this matter into consideration.

“And we believe there will be some discussion in the next few days, and in the meantime, I hope the people will stay calm and be patient,” he told a press conference at the DAP office in Medan Istana here.

Aziz Bari, who is the state DAP’s vice-chairman, did not rule out the possibility of negotiations with the Perak Barisan Nasional (BN) in the next few days.

“However, it all depends on the Perak Sultan. He needs to form a stable government and this is something the politicians have to be magnanimous about and set aside personal or party interests.

“But we know it’s not easy to achieve. So that’s why we have to wait and see,” he added.

Earlier today, Ahmad Faizal lost a motion of confidence that was tabled against him at the state legislative assembly.

Perak Speaker Datuk Mohammad Zahir Abdul Kalid announced the results showing that 48 assemblymen had voted against Ahmad Faizal, with only 10 supporting him. One vote was not counted as it was damaged.

Meanwhile, Perak PKR’s vice-chairman Tan Kar Hing said the fact that the motion of confidence was submitted by the government bloc and with more than half of them showing no support for the mentri besar shows the PN government is fragile.

“From PH, we have a solid 24 votes who did not support the mentri besar and the rest of the votes came from the opposite bloc.

“The PN government has been fragile ever since its formation after the ‘Sheraton Move’ and until today, there are a lot of internal disputes within the coalition,” he said.

Separately, Perak DAP chairman Nga Kor Ming urged Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun to follow the example of the Perak Speaker in allowing the tabling of a confidence motion.

“If the Perak government can table the motion, why can’t Parliament do the same?

“According to the principles of Parliament, a motion of confidence, which involves the legitimacy of the government of the day, shall precede any government business and is given top priority,” he said.

“Therefore, I hope the Dewan Rakyat Speaker will follow the decision taken by the Perak Assembly in deciding the legitimacy of the Federal Government so that Malaysia will no longer have a ‘backdoor government’,” he added.