THE Malaysia Indian Voice (MIV) requested the Yang di-Pertuan Agong al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Iskandar Shah to step in and delay the Melaka state polls for the time being.
“Have we not learned our lesson from last year’s Sabah state election? Prior to that, we managed to cut our COVID-19 cases to virtually zero.
“But the Sabah state election created a huge wave of COVID-19 infections, with hundreds losing their lives on a daily basis. Do we really need to put lives at stake just because some self-serving politicians have no regard for the people?” its chairman V Pappa Raidu asked FocusM.
Two days ago, Melaka’s Governor Tun Ali Rustam dissolved the state assembly, paving way for a state wide election to be held after four of its state assemblymen withdrew support from chief minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali.
Two of them were from UMNO, Datuk Nor Azman Hassan (Pantai Kundor) Datuk Seri Idris Haron (Sungai Udang). While the party had sacked them for their actions, the duo claimed that they had received offers to join Pakatan and would make announcement on it soon.
Yesterday, the Pakatan Harapan presidential council claimed that Ali had erred in his decision to dissolve the state assembly, adding the latter should have instead studied and abided by the state constitution.
“After four assemblymen withdrew their support for the chief minister, based on the state constitution, the chief minister lost his appointment and eligibility to advise the Governor.
“Ali should have instead studied and abided by the state constitution, and met with the 15 assemblymen who formed the majority before making any decisions.
“It is unfortunate his action had not only breached precedent when the advise of then chief minister Adly Zahari to dissolve the state assembly last year was turned down, but also not in line with the Federal Court case of Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin v Zambry Abdul Kadir where majority could be determined outside of the legislative assembly,” Pakatan was reported saying.
Idris lacks foresight
Touching on the matter, Pappa Raidu echoed Pakatan’s sentiments that Ali should have sought meetings with its state assemblyperson and decide on who has the majority support, instead of dissolving the state assembly when a deadly disease is still raging.
As for the duo claims that Pakatan had made an offer to them, the NGO leader stated: “Just do anything you can to avert polls for now. I think public health matters supersede narrow political interests.”
On related matter, UMNO supreme council member Datuk Puad Zarkashi urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to probe if the crisis in Melaka had elements of graft attached to it.
Training his guns against Idris, Puad accused the former of being obsessed of becoming Melaka’s chief minister, which triggered him to become emotional and foolish.
“It’s now obvious that Idris is short-sighted. One must understand that without the party’s support, there is little you can do.
“By going against UMNO, he just kissed his political career goodbye,” the former deputy minister remarked. – Oct 7, 2021.
Pic credit: melaka.gov.my
