New Perak MB by end week

New Perak MB by end week

Andrew Ong | Mar 11, 08 6:27pm

The DAP-PKR-PAS coalition has submitted an official list of candidates to Perak Sultan Azlan Shah. The list was handed over to the Sultan’s secretary at 2pm today by a tripartite delegation, and the Ruler is expected to make an announcement within the next two days. At a joint press conference, DAP chairperson Ngeh Khoo Ham confirmed that each party has submitted one name. They are Ngeh himself who is Sitiawan assemblyperson, Pasir Panjang assemblyperson Mohamad Nizar Jamaludin and PKR’s Behrang assemblyperson Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi. “All three parties have unanimously agreed that we will fully endorse the Sultan’s choice,” said Ngeh, speaking for coalition. He stressed that, irrespective of the Sultan’s choice, the new coalition government will make decisions collectively. “We therefore call upon party supporters from all three parties to fully support the new menteri besar,” he said Asked why three names had been submitted - instead of the coalition settling for one nominee - Ngeh replied that the decision was made based on various aspects of the state constitution. Complex circumstances Under the state constitution, the menteri besar has to be a Malay Muslim, but there is a provision that allows the Sultan to waive the requirement. None of the 18 DAP elected representatives are Malay Muslim, even though the party controls the most number of seats in the new state government. It is learnt that the three of seven Malay Muslim PKR assemblypersons were ruled out as they are deemed not to have suitable paper qualifications. This makes Mohamad Nizar, 51, the frontrunner as he has academic credentials and ranks high in the PAS Perak hierarchy. Observers have noted that the three parties cannot automatically nominate Mohamad Nizar for the post, or the DAP would suffer severe political repercussions. DAP has vehemently rejected PAS’ conservative religious agenda in favour of a secular ‘Malaysian Malaysia’ and had even left the PAS-PKR Barisan Alternatif coalition in protest in 2001. In each general election, however, DAP has worked out a seat-distribution formula with PKR to avoid three-corner fights.