Let the people decides

The Perak political situation is in shambles due to the defection of four assemblymen from the Pakatan Rakyat. One already rejoined Umno and the other three announced they are now "independents". The equation in Perak's 59 seats State Assembly after all the crossovers - PR 28 seats, BN/Umno 28 seats and three "independents" that supports BN. No one will be surprised if these "independents" will later joins BN component parties and given plump positions in the government and government link companies.

While PR Menteri Besar Nizar already announced assembly dissolved pending the royal consent of the Perak Sultan, the BN led by Najib declared they have enough seats to form the next state government.

Some questions and comparison will arises even if Najib obtained the green light from the Sultan for BN to form the new government.

1. Can the BN really represents the people of Perak when BN actually do not have the electoral mandate of the people?

2. Since nearly all of BN assemblymen are from Umno except one from MCA, can it really claim as a BN government? It is much more like Umno + 1 (MCA) government.

3. With a large populace of non-Malays in Perak, if granted by Sultan, the Umno led state government will now be seen as a Malay government against majority non-Malays assemblymen in opposition.

4. Will horse trading continues to enticed more defection, especially from Indian assemblymen in DAP to Gerakan/MIC?

5. Can BN/Umno fulfill the expectation of the electorates which already get a feel on the people friendly approach of PR? How is Umno going to deal with PR State's promised to convert new villages leasehold land to freehold which Umno originally plan to derail it?

6. Will the new BN/Umno state government be stable? If the new state government was established via the back door and with crossovers of unprincipled elected official, will it not always be clouded by the threat of similar situation?

The bottomline is that the formation of any new government through crossovers and defection is a betrayal of trust of the people that voted for the elected official and the theft of the people's right to seek and vote for their choice of representatives. The proper and decent choice is to give back the right to the people to determine who they want to lead and run the government.

This is part of the democratic process and good governance. Let the people decides. - Loka