2009 Perak Constitutional Crisis - Defections

Defections

The crisis began on 25 January 2009 when a member of the Barisan Nasional coalition's main component party - UMNO, Nasarudin Hashim announced his decision to leave the party and join PKR. Pakatan Rakyat leader, Anwar Ibrahim made continued claims of the possibility of more Perak and also Federal lawmakers from Barisan Nasional crossing the floor to Pakatan Rakyat. Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, the state's First Minister, also hinted at the possibility of another three state lawmakers from Barisan Nasional defecting over to Pakatan Rakyat. Nasarudin Hashim's defection angered the then Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who chided Nasarudin for being weak and claimed that Nasarudin's defection was because Nasarudin was disappointed in not being offered any senior party posts. Nasarudin rebutted the Prime Minister's statement and claimed his decision was due to the mood of his constituents. On 29 January 2009 then Finance Minister Najib Razak took over from Mohammad Tajol Rosli Ghazali as the Perak UMNO chief, as Tajol Rosli resigned over Nasaruddin's party shift.

On 30 January 2009 two state assemblymen from PKR, senior state exco member and one time candidate for First Minister Jamaluddin Mat Radzi and Mohd Osman Jailu, who were both previously accused of corruption went missing from their homes. The State Assembly speaker V. Sivakumar of the DAP then declared the seats held by Jamaluddin and Osman vacant and informed the Election Commission to initiate a by-election in the two ridings. On 2 February 2009 both assemblymen reappeared and declared themselves independent assemblymen while pledging support for Barisan Nasional in confidence matters. The Election Commission then decided to not heed the speaker's requests and states that no by-elections would be held for the seats held by Jamaluddin and Osman.

The deputy speaker of the state assembly from the DAP Hee Yit Foong declared herself independent on 3 February 2009 with the same terms as Jamaluddin and Osman - supporting Barisan Nasional in matters of confidence. Nizar had an audience with the Sultan of Perak Sultan Azlan Shah and requested a dissolution of the state assembly to pave way for a snap election on 4 January 2009. Najib in his capacity as Perak UMNO chief had an audience with Sultan Azlan Shah together with Hee, Jamaluddin and Osman. The latest Pakatan Rakyat lawmaker Nasaruddin announced his return to UMNO citing that " want stability in Perak." Najib, then sought royal consent for Barisan Nasional to form the new government.

An almost similar scenario occurred in the state of Sabah following the 1994 state election whereby Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) won 25 seats against 23 won by Barisan Nasional. Defections by representatives of PBS into Barisan Nasional gave the latter the requisite majority to form government in Sabah.