PERAK Crisis

5:15pm Court of Appeal sets 9am, May 18, five days from now, to hear Nizar application to set aside stay of execution granted to Zambry on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Zambry had his application for a stay heard and granted within mere hours.

2:20pm Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin files his application to set aside the Court of Appeal’s stay of execution. Application filed at Court of Appeal registry. He is believed to have asked for a three-member panel. Hearing date not yet fixed.

2:15pm Pakatan’s panel of lawyers arrive at the Palace of Justice, Putrajaya, to file an application to set aside the stay of execution granted by the Court of Appeal on Tuesday.

The stay was against the High Court ruling on Monday which declared Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin the rightful mentri besar of Perak, and asking Barisan’s Datuk Dr Zambry Abd Kadir and his executive councillors to vacate their offices.

12:45pm Perak Mentri Besar Dr Zambry, after chairing exco meeting at the state secretariat building, tells reporters that it is "business as usual."

He says investors need not worry about doing business in the state as government officers "will still be around" to perform their duties.

11:15am Lawyers on the way to the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya, to file application to set aside the stay of execution of the High Court order granted to Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir by the Court of Appeal, said Pakatan Rakyat's Nga Kor Ming.

9.15am Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir reported for work at the State Secretariat building in Ipoh. Will chair an exco meeting and hold a press conference at 12.30pm.

IPOH: It was a case of now you see it now you don’t as far as the two disputing “mentris besar” of Perak are concerned.

Before Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin could even warm his seat at the mentri besar’s office in the State Secretariat building yesterday, news flashed that his successor was back to being mentri besar — pending an appeal.

Ironically, both Nizar and Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir had called press conferences at the same time the news was released, with the former stationing himself at the mentri besar’s office and the latter at the Perak Umno headquarters here.

Dr Zambry, who had caught wind of Nizar’s press conference, even held off his meeting for 15 minutes until 2pm, hoping to be able to rebut what his opponent had to say.

At this point however, the political situation in Perak is so uncertain that statements from either party could either be overtaken by events, in contempt of court, sub judice or be used to start another series of legal action.

Nizar, who just the day before was celebrating his first success in three months when the Kuala Lumpur High Court declared that he was the legitimate mentri besar, suddenly found his joy short-lived.

Dr Zambry, who vacated his office on Monday evening, returned to “power” the moment a stay of execution was granted in his favour.

Meanwhile, civil servants in the State Secretariat are in limbo.

For 10 months, they answered to Nizar and in the last three months, to Dr Zambry. On Monday, Nizar became their chief again.

Barely 24 hours later, Dr Zambry returned. And Nizar may make yet another comeback if the Court of Appeal rules in his favour.

As a result, the yo-yo game between the two mentris besar have left them even more confused than ever over which man was supposed to run the government.

Pressmen covering the political impasse in Perak too have been having a hard time keeping up with the duo’s designations.

“Who is the former mentri besar now?” lamented one journalist.

On Monday, they rushed to cover the removal of Dr Zambry and his exco men’s belongings from the State Secretariat.

Yesterday, they again flocked to the building to witness Nizar and his team reporting to work at 7.30am.

When the court decision on the stay of execution was announced at 1.15pm, reporters thronged the State Secretariat for the third time, this time to witness Nizar clearing out from the building.

Today, the media will again be at the building to see Dr Zambry reporting back to work.

In this never ending game of tug-of-war between Barisan and Pakatan, no one has been spared, especially not the Perakians, and an air of uncertainty still hangs over the entire state.

On Monday, High Court (Appellate and Special Powers) judge Justice Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim had granted a declaratory relief to Nizar that he is still and was the mentri besar at all material times.

The court, which issued a declaratory relief that Dr Zambry had no right to occupy the office of Perak Mentri Besar, also ordered him to show cause and give information under what policy, power or authority he allegedly held office and exercised the responsibilities, functions and duties as mentri besar.

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