Perak Pakatan boycotts Zambry swearing-in, blames gerrymandering for BN win

KUALA LUMPUR, May 7 – In a show of defiance, Perak Pakatan Rakyat (PR) boycotted today’s swearing-in of Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir as mentri besar, insisting it was unfair for Barisan Nasional (BN) to form the state government when it lost the overall votes cast last Sunday.

In a statement here, Perak DAP chief Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham (picture) pointed out that PR had polled 613,490 votes or 54.75 per cent, while BN trailed far behind with 507,123 or 45.25 per cent, despite the latter pact sailing to an overall win over Perak with 31 state seats.

“This blatant gerrymandering favours the BN which enable it to win 31 seats compared to the 28 seats obtained by the PR.

“PR obtained 21 per cent more votes if compared to the votes obtained by BN. The people of Perak have been cheated of a more popular PR State Government,” he said.

Explaining today’s boycott, the Beruas MP said Zambry did not deserve the respect due to a mentri besar as he had allegedly been instrumental in the 2009 power putsch in Perak.

Next, Ngeh added that this time around, Zambry was being sworn-in for a second term despite losing the popular vote.

“I call on the Election Commission to restore the principle of equal representation for each vote in order that the election results will truly reflect the majority will of the people.

“The just concluded election saw the minority rural poor (many of whom are influenced by the BN government’s handouts) override the views of the majority urban, better informed and educated Perakians,” the Sitiawan assemblyman added.

Perak returned to BN in the early hours of yesterday morning when the ruling pact won in 31 seats to PR’s 28 seats, allowing it to rule with a small three-seat majority in the 59-seat assembly.

The state fell to opposition parties DAP, PAS and PKR in Election 2008 in much the same way, with the three parties jointly winning in 31 seats to BN’s 28.

But not one year later, the state PR government was hit by the defections of three of its assemblymen, forcing them to hand over the reins of the state to BN in what they have described as an “illegal power grab”.