Media Statement by Ngeh Koo Ham in Ipoh on Tuesday, 25^th August 2009:

Zambry is telling lies again. Perak Pakatan Rakyat Leaders never at any point of time explicitly or implicitly recognize Dato’ R. Ganesan as the Speaker of Perak Legislative Assembly. Zambry’s approval rating is the worst among all Menteri Besars/Chief Ministers. Challenge Dato’ R. Ganesan to swear on oath as to when he actually wrote to the Bar Council to cease his legal practice

Either Dato’ Seri Zambry Bin Abdul Kadir does not understand English or he is a prolific liar. Referring to the joint media statement by the Perak Pakatan Rakyat Leaders (a copy of which is attached) issued on 21/8/2009, Zambry said that PR leaders have acknowledged Dato R. Ganesan as Speaker. I would like to emphasise that every single paragraph in the said media statement refutes the claim by Dato’ R. Ganesan and BN that he is the lawful Speaker.

The first sentence started off with ‘We all know that Dato’ R. Ganesan was never properly elected as the Speaker ………….’. The second paragraph asks ‘How can a proceeding or a decision made prior to the commencement of a meeting the valid?’

The disclosure by the lawyer of Speaker YB V. Sivakumar concerning the confirmation from the Malaysian Bar that Dato’ R. Ganesan was still actively practising as a lawyer at on 11/8/2009 (more than 3 months after his purported election as Speaker by BN representatives) was to emphasise that even Dato’ R. Ganesan does not believe that he was legally elected and had refused to surrender his practising certificate. Also, had he been legally elected (as alleged by BN)(which he was not) he would have been disqualified.

I sincerely believe that only after Dato’ R. Ganesan was served the YB V. Sivakumar’s affidavit stating that even if Dato’ R. Ganesan was rightfully elected (which he was not) he would have been disqualified under Article XXX V1A(5) of the Perak Constitution, that he wrote to the Bar Council to inform them of his intention to cease his legal practice.

I challenged Dato’ R. Ganesan to swear on oath the actual date he sent his letter to the Bar Council otherwise we can believe that he has back dated his letter to the Bar Council.

Recent survey shows that the approval rating for Zambry is only 36%, the worst among all Menteri Besars and Chief Ministers. The MB/CM with highest rating is Tok Guru Nik Aziz of Kelantan followed by Lim Guan Eng the Chief Minister of Penang.

I believe the 36% who approved of Zambry are the hardcore UMNO members while the balance 64% Perakians reject him.

I call on Zambry to quit as the MB of Perak as he is not the people’s choice by calling a fresh election for Perak. At least in this way he can contribute to Perak by starting a precedent in Malaysia which has been well established in other democracies that we gracefully leave office when the people reject us.

* Ngeh Koo Ham, Perak DAP Chairman & MP for Beruas; Senior Exco Member Pakatan Rakyat Perak State Government