By Deborah Loh
PUTRAJAYA, 21 May 2009: A chief minister or menteri besar (MB) cannot be removed even if the person fails a vote of no-confidence in the state legislative assembly, the Court of Appeal hearing the case to determine the rightful Perak MB was told today.
Lawyer Sulaiman Abdullah, who is representing Pakatan Rakyat (PR)'s embattled Perak MB Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, said this was his conclusion from the 1966 Stephen Kalong Ningkan case, which resulted in the Sarawak constitution being amended through emergency legislation to allow the state governor to remove the chief minister.
In the Ningkan case, the court had ruled that the only way to determine whether a chief minister had lost the majority confidence of assemblypersons was by way of a vote in the Council Negri.
But Sulaiman told the appeals court judges today that because the judgment did not resolve Sarawak's crisis since Ningkan refused to resign, the federal government had imposed emergency rule on the state so as to institute amendments that gave the governor powers to remove the chief minister. The amended provisions lapsed after six months.
Read more at The Nut Graph.
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