Bits And Pieces

Bits and Pieces Around Polititical News Corners

Nizar will try to convince Sultan to dissolve assembly, again.

March 03 – Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin will once again seek the Sultan’s consent to dissolve the state assembly as soon as the documents from today’s extraordinary emergency sitting held under a tree are ready.

The ousted Menteri Besar said this at a press conference after the assembly was convened on a residential road under a rain tree, a tantalising 200 metres or so away from the formal assembly in the state secretariat building.

Nizar expressed his sadness at the assembly being forced to meet in a most unusual location but said that they had no choice.

“We were forced to meet under a tree due to the doctrine of necessity,” he told reporters. “State assemblymen were notified to attend but were blocked by police. It’s sad that state representatives are being blocked from doing their duties.

The whole world can see how this country, which is supposed to be advanced, holds an assembly sitting under a tree.”

He also said that the suspension of the house secretary Abdullah Antong Sabri was lawful as the speaker had the power to appoint and dismiss the secretary.

While the press conference was going on in the DAP Perak headquarters, a multi-racial crowd of about 300 was being fired up outside by various speakers including Dr Hatta Mohd Ramli, Pas’s member of parliament from Kuala Krai, Kelantan.


Umno men want party assembly called off pending graft probe

Mar 3 – With less than a month before Datuk Seri Najib Razak is scheduled to take over as Umno president, two party members said today they will file for a court injunction to stop the Umno general assembly scheduled for the end of this month from being held.

The two members, Datuk Kadar Shah Ninam Shah and Datuk Mazlan Harun, said they hoped the assembly would be postponed until all allegations of money politics are investigated.

The move by the duo was seen as an attempt to stop the party from endorsing Najib’s leadership. Najib has won the Umno presidency uncontested and will be confirmed as party president during the general assembly.

But Mazlan shot down the suggestion that they were trying to stop Najib from becoming prime minister, saying that the transition plan could be completed anytime.

“We are not here to stop (Najib). Everyone who loves Umno must take this matter seriously. The process must be completed according to the party constitution and the law. We are not involved in the transition plan, it can be completed anytime,” Mazlan told reporters.

Kadar, who was elected a delegate to the assembly and Mazlan, a former Umno Youth executive committee member, had also lodged two reports last year with the then Anti-Corruption Agency against Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi and Najib for alleged involvement in money politics.

“To date there has been no action on either report. There has also not been any apparent action on the more than 1,000 reports of political graft and other abuses sent to Umno’s Disciplinary Committee, as acknowledged by its chairman Tengku Ahmad Rithaudeen,” said the duo in a joint statement.

They also slammed Abdullah for his remark recently that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission had closed the investigation on all reports regarding money politics in the party as they found no evidence.

“How can they declare the cases are close if none of us were called to give our statement?” said Kada.

They added that the party secretary general Tengku Adnan Mansor has also publicly stated that all reports on corruption must be investigated before the assembly.

They claimed that if the assembly goes on before investigations are completed it would lead to instability.

“We would have another crisis on our hands if it turns out that people we elect subsequently turn out to have obtained their positions illegally. Worse still if they are already in government,” they said.

“We are considering seeking a court injunction if the cases are not solved before the assembly,” said Kadar adding that they would wait for party leaders to react to their move.


Feb 26 — Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today warned Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers against what he said were false reports about him and the Barisan Nasional.

"Whoever makes false reports will be prosecuted, and this includes statutory declarations. They will pay the price," said Najib when asked to comment on the latest reports by two PR state assemblymen in Perak who implicated him in a defection offer.

His warning today was the harshest statement yet from Najib in response to allegations of bribing lawmakers to defect to BN.

At the height of the Perak crisis a local PKR leader made a statutory declaration, saying that Najib made an offer of RM50 million just after the March 8 general election to buy over at least two PR assemblymen to pave the way for the formation of a BN government.



March 03. Several Umno members are expected to set in motion today moves to obtain a court injunction to block this months’s Umno general assembly.

Their ultimate aim: to block the ruling party endorsing Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as the Umno president and pave the way for Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to stay on as prime minister.

But faced with the prospect of a tougher and more ruthless Najib administration, there appears to be a surge in nostalgia among some Umno members, and even the opposition, for Abdullah to stay on.