High Court Decision – Smoke Screen or A New Battle Plan?

I’ve to admit I was rather surprised with the High Court decision that declared Nizar Jamaluddin as the rightful Perak Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) instead of ruling government’s choice, Zambry. Equally surprise was the Zambry’s application for a stay pending appeal which was immediately rejected by the High Court. People especially from the PR (Pakatan Rakyat or People’s Alliance) coalition started the celebration as if the country has just won the FIFA World cup. The victory was actually many times better than orgasm considering that the perception on the street was the judicial was long-dead, since the day former premier Mahathir chopped down the judiciary’s independence and made the judges at the mercy of the Executive pillar.

Make no mistake about it, PM Najib’s plan in capturing the Perak state was buggy as he was rushing to show the UMNO delegates what he can do in the blink of an eye in his final push for his successor, Abdullah Badawi, to throw in his towel. In the process he only managed to seduce the tainted trio to jump ship while it was freaking difficult to win over the Speaker Sivakumar. If only Najib could win the heart of Sivakumar the Perak’s political landscape may be different today. By the time Najib realized his mistake it was too late, nonetheless the assault for the Chief Minister post had to continue. His apprentice Zambry was hoping for a smooth sailing when the Perak Assembly opened last week but Speaker Sivakumar had proven to be a hard nut to crack so much so he basically chained himself to the Speaker’s chair without even the need to answer nature’s call *hats off to him*.

The problem compounded exponentially when Zambry engaged outsiders (till now nobody knows if they are policemen or thugs?) to practically dragged the stubborn Speaker Sivakumar out of the House before locked him inside a room for almost an hour. It was the most embarrassing episode in the history of the country’s democracy and almost immediately gained global’s attention. It was a slap to the face of Najib who was trying to project 1-Malaysia concept. Most importantly foreign investors were rather worried though they were equally amused. If the present government can literally threw the much respected Speaker out of the window, what assurance or guarantee is there that the foreign investors’ billions of dollars of investment would be protected? Najib’s administration can justify their actions until foaming at their mouth but foreign investors are not stupid and they have other option to park their money.

Najib’s mentor Mahathir may have warned him that despite winning the battle (Perak state) he may lose the war (next general election) judging from the soaring temperature not only from the Perakians but also nationwide. It was indeed a dangerous game to pursue hence repair or salvage the situation or else. Strangely enough the Hindraf trio and 10 others were released from the draconian ISA one day after Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, who is also the cousin of PM Najib Razak, was adamant that the Hindraf trio should be in the detention center. The release was obviously to prevent another by-election at Kota Alam Shah of which it’s impossible for Najib’s coalition to win. Also by doing so it was hope the people especially the Indian’s hatred towards the ruling government could be reduced. Already there’re rumors that the Hindraf may be registered as a political party and may join Najib’s coalition since MIC is fast losing its shine.

So, is the High Court decision to award Nizar was actually a smoke screen? OK, I may have watch too much television series such as 24 but it could be also due to that fact that I basically read all the “Famous Five” by Enid Blyton during my primary school days. Najib and his boy, Zambry, are mooting the idea of appealing against the High Court decision and there’re already political analysts who believed Najib would most probably win the appeal. It’s another way for Najib to tell the world that the democracy is still alive. Nizar won the first round and Najib wins the next round. It would be a good strategy to divide the people’s perception that the Judicial is under absolute government’s control. So the PR cannot sulk if the appeal goes the other way. Even if Nizar won this round, the Sultan of Perak can still refuse to dissolve the State Assembly and if a vote of confidence were to be tabled, the BN may win the game considering they have the majority (remember the three frogs?). But what about the status of Speaker Sivakumar?

Now what if Najib-Mahathir’s plan was to actually give back the Perak’s state to the PR in an attempt to win back the tightly squeezed peoples’ support for the next general election? The clock is ticking and Najib does not have much time to play this guerilla warfare with PR, not to mention the Sultan of Perak has invited much criticism over his handling of the state’s constitution crisis. Knowing the mentality of Malaysian, the Ruler’s mistake may be forgiven almost instantly should he grants Nizar request to dissolve the State Assembly. Anyway Nizar and his team-mates should not be over excited that the Ruler will play the game as to reverse His Highness’s recent decision indirectly means the Sultan has erred. It’s all about face-saving. But the Sultan’s son, Nazrin, could be the right person to undo the damages if he decides to grant Nizar’s request, provided a ground could be established that Sultan Azlan Shah is unavailable for 30-days. Najib can also claim victory that his administration respects the court’s decision so he’s not a monster people perceived him to be.