IPOH, October 12 — The Perak State Legislative Assembly will not be dissolved today, said Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohammad after his audience with Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah.

Saarani said the Sultan will announce his decision on the matter later

“I met the state Ruler and informed him on the dissolution of Parliament on Monday, after getting the consent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

“I also informed him that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has called all the states to take necessary steps to dissolve their state assemblies to hold elections simultaneously.

“I presented the letter requesting for the state legislative assembly to dissolve to the Sultan and he acknowledged it. Any decision pertaining the matter will be announced by him soon,” he told a press conference at the State Secretariat Building here.

However, Saarani stressed that the development was not unusual as it was the Sultan’s prerogative to decide the MB’s request to dissolve the assembly.

He said he will seek another audience with the Sultan once the latter has decided.

Saarani then said the state government will function as usual until a decision was made on this matter.

On Monday, Ismail Sabri announced the dissolution of the 14th Parliament to pave the way for an early polls, ignoring appeals from the Opposition and lawmakers from within his own party not to hold the 15th general election until next year as the country prepares to face the annual monsoon floods.

Like many other states, the Perak state assembly’s term only expires next year, but Barisan Nasional has directed all state governments under its control to seek a dissolution to synchronise the state and national elections.

When asked if the state government will be holding a special sitting to table the anti-hopping law before dissolving, Saarani claimed this was not necessary now.

“We can definitely table it after the general election,” he said.

Earlier, Perak DAP lawmaker Chong Zhemin urged Saarani to defer the dissolution of the state legislature until it has tabled and passed the anti-party hopping enactment.

The Keranji assemblyman suggested the Perak government emulate its Barisan Nasional peers in Perlis, which will be tabling and debating a similar anti-party hopping proposal tomorrow before dissolving its legislature.

The DAP representative stressed that the anti-party hopping Bill needs to be given priority before the legislature is dissolved to safeguard the stability of the next state government.

He pointed out that the past elected Perak government had been ousted twice in the past 11 years due to political crossovers. - malaymail