Fresh Perlis state assembly election is one option to resolve the Perlis constitutional crisis

Fresh Perlis state assembly election is one option to resolve the two-week-long Perlis constitutional crisis which cropped up after the May 9 general election.

Barisan Nasional won 10 out of 15 state assembly seats in Perlis constituting two-thirds assembly majority, but a fresh Perlis state general election is likely to see a change of government in the state, so as to fall in step with the change of Malaysian Government in Putrajaya from UMNO/BN to the Pakatan Harapan coalition.

In the swearing-in ceremony yesterday, Azlan Man, the State Assemblyman for Bintong, took the oath of office before the Raja of Perlis as the Mentri Besar, but the ceremony was boycotted by the other nine UMNO/BN State Assemblymen.

Hours after the swearing-in, Azlan was sacked from UMNO, making his position as Perlis Mentri Besar quite untenable.

The constitutional crisis in Perlis has caught the majority of Malaysians by surprise, as they had been more attuned to and focussed on the great changes unleashed by the political earthquake of May 9, 2018 at the federal level.

One way to resolve the unseemly constitutional crisis in Perlis is for Azlan to request the Raja of Perlis to dissolve the Perlis State Assembly to pave the way for a fresh state general election.

In the May 9, 2018 General Election, BN won two-thirds majority of the Perlis State Assembly with some one-third of the popular vote, while Pakatan Harapan which won three seats secured 35 per cent of the popular vote and PAS won two seats with 26% of the popular vote.

If there is an immediate Perlis state general election, there is likely to be a shocking change of results as the 47,000 voters who voted for UMNO/BN would have realised the enormity of the criminality and moral turpitude in the 1MDB international money-laundering scandal which gave Malaysia the infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy and the 31,000 votes who voted for PAS candidates would have the opportunity to realise that the “kingmaker” agenda of the PAS national leadership was to prop up a notorious global kleptocrat Datuk Seri Najib Razak to continue as Prime Minister of Malaysia.

The outcome of a new Perlis State Assembly election might be another state falling under the rule of Pakatan Harapan to implement its agenda to Save and Rebuild Malaysia.