The Federal Constitution of Malaysia does not state that the Umno President must become the Prime Minister of Malaysia. What it does say is that the Agong must appoint a Member of the House (one of the 222 Members of Parliament) who commands the confidence of the majority of the Members of the House as the Prime Minister.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Balasubramaniam a/l Perumal signed the following Statutory Declaration on Tuesday, 1 July 2008. On Wednesday, 2 July 2008, I spent about six hours with him from 6.00pm to midnight where he not only repeated what he said in his Statutory Declaration but much more, which he said would be fully revealed in part 2 and part 3 of his Statutory Declarations that would follow over the next few days. There were six people with us at that meeting, that included three lawyers.
On Thursday, 3 July 2008, Balasubramaniam held a press conference at the Parti Keadilan Rakyat headquarters in Merchant Square, Tropicana. After that press conference we had lunch with about 20 people or so, which included members of the media, and an elated Subramanian told us to wait for SD2 and SD3, which are going to be more explosive than his first Statutory Declaration.
Of course, SD2 and SD3 never happened because on Friday, 4 July 2008, Balasubramaniam signed another Statutory Declaration recanting what he said in his Statutory Declaration of 1 July.
My lawyers tell me that what Balasubramaniam told us on 2 July 2008 is hearsay and therefore not admissible as evidence in a court of law. This means I am not at liberty to reveal what Balasubramaniam told us. It’s a shame really because the story would make a great Bollywood movie script.
On Monday, 24 November 2008, my ‘criminal defamation’ trial will kick off at the Jalan Duta court. This is with regards to my own Statutory Declaration that I signed in April 2008. I have lined up about a dozen or so witnesses who will confirm, amongst others, what I said in my Statutory Declaration, plus of course much more not revealed in that Statutory Declaration of mine.
I am actually looking forward to this trial because this will give my dozen witnesses and me an opportunity to reveal what we cannot say under normal circumstances. Let us see, after this trial commences, whether Malaysians would still want Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to resign in March 2009. My suspicion is most Malaysians would regard Pak Lah as the ‘lesser of the two evils’ and will beg him to stay on till the end of his term on midnight of 7 March 2013.
By the way, the Federal Constitution of Malaysia does not state that the Umno President must become the Prime Minister of Malaysia. What it does say is that the Agong must appoint a Member of the House (one of the 222 Members of Parliament) who commands the confidence of the majority of the Members of the House as the Prime Minister. And Pak Lah already has 82 Pakatan Rakyat Members of Parliament with him plus 20 from Umno. All he needs is ten more and MCA, MIC and Gerakan have 20 combined. So, even without the Sabah and Sarawak Parliamentarians, Pak Lah can still remain as Prime Minister of Malaysia.
That is the reality of the situation and this is what the law says. So let us not celebrate the new regime of Najib Tun Razak just yet as it may not happen after all. One week is a long time in politics, let alone four months. So many things can happen. And there are many things that are going to happen over these next four months even if they win their appeal against my release from Internal Security Act detention and succeed in sending me back to Kamunting.
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