Dato' Seri Ir Hj Mohammad Nizar bin Jamaluddin v Dato' Seri Dr Zambry bin Abdul Kadir Three members of the

Perak state assembly who had previously supported the Pakatan Rakyat state government announced they were becoming political independents in February 2009, and that they would support the Barisan Nasional on matters of confidence and supply. Nizar asked Sultan Azlan Shah of Perak to dissolve the state assembly and call for new elections to resolve the political impasse. However, the Sultan rejected Nizar's request, ordered him to resign as Menteri Besar, and swore in Zambry as the new Menteri Besar. Nizar then filed suit against Zambry in the Kuala Lumpur High Court. Held: The leader of a state government can only be toppled by a vote of no confidence in the state assembly. A state assembly can only be dissolved when the Menteri Besar loses the confidence of the legislature or at the expiration of the legislature's term, and that under Article 16(6) of the state constitution; Nizar automatically resigned his position as Menteri Besar. Article 36 provided for "unlimited circumstances for the menteri besar to request for dissolution from the Sultan," and that although Article 16(6) suggests the Menteri Besar should resign, it cannot automatically compel him to do so. Nizar requested the dissolution of the state assembly under Article 16(6), which would mean Nizar had already lost the confidence of the state assembly. However, Nizar insisted his request was under Article 36(2), which allows the Menteri Besar to request dissolution for any reason. Zambry filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal. Some criticized the granting of a permanent, as opposed to temporary, stay. Because of the stay, it was then unclear who the Menteri Besar is. Zambry has refused to address the question, while Nizar's camp asserts that the stay does not overrule the High Court judgment, and as such Nizar remains Menteri Besar. The Malaysian Bar Council's interpretation of the stay is that Zambry now acts as a caretaker Menteri Besar. The Court of Appeal overturned the High Court decision and declared Zambry the rightful Menteri Besar. The Case went further up to the Federal Court with Nizar appealing the verdict of the Court of Appeal. Ultimately, Nizar lost the legal proceedings when, in February 2010, the Federal Court ruled Zambry to be the lawful Menteri Besar.1

Dato' Seri Ir Hj Mohammad Nizar bin Jamaluddin v Dato' Seri Dr Zambry bin Abdul Kadir , April 2008, http://www.lexisnexis.com.ezaccess.library.uitm.edu.my/my/legal/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true& risb=21_T19639460692&format=GNBFULL&sort=BOOLEAN&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T19639460696&cis b=22_T19639460695&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=346466&docNo=1