The circus

And so the circus that is the Perak political situation continues.

Yesterday, the High Court ruled that the Barisan Nasional government that is currently in power was void as the means of dissolution of the previous opposition government went against the state constitution. The ruling also required that the current state assembly members who formed the government relinquish their positions immediately and vacate their offices. Many saw this as a triumph of the law.

Yet, just this afternoon I received an sms from a friend of mine who is from Perak saying that the Court of Appeal has granted a stay of execution. That basically means that the current people in office get to stay until a further verdict is issued concerning the High Court ruling. I have just confirmed this from The Star web page.

And who would have thought how quickly the appeal would have been granted. I'm no judge or lawyer, but I would have thought that it would have taken at least a few weeks. But from what I gather, the appeal was submitted at 9.30 am just today, and granted before even lunch time was over. That's within 24 hours of the High Court ruling. Amazing speed.

So, yes, it's another twist in the political drama that is unfolding in Perak.

And finally, I can't understand why the whole Perak State Assembly can't just be dissolved and allow fresh elections to take place. It seems the most efficient and logical way of solving this political impasse but it's not being done. Why?

Only reasons I can think of are negative ones: 1) somebody has a personal agenda to fulfill in this whole thing, and 2) someone is just afraid of losing if elections are called.

Politics.