PAKATAN Harapan will take the question of the legitimacy of the caretaker Malacca government to court, said Adly Zahari.

In a press conference this morning, the Malacca PH chairman said former chief minister Sulaiman Md Ali was not qualified to lead the caretaker government as he had lost majority support in the state legislative assembly.

Adly, who himself resigned after losing the majority in the state assembly in 2020, said it was clear that the party with the most seats should form the government.

“Ex-CM Sulaiman Md Ali does not have the majority in the state assembly and should not lead the caretaker government. The state secretary should be the one taking care of state affairs in the meantime just like what happened during the time I lost (support) in 2020.”

“PH will refer to the court to determine the legitimacy of the caretaker government. By right, the party which has the support of assemblymen should be forming the government,” said Adly who was the CM from 2018 to 2020.

Adly’s government collapsed shortly after the ousting of the PH federal government in 2020. Several of the coalition’s assemblymen had decided to withdraw their support for Adly as Perikatan Nasional was established in Putrajaya.

Adly said Malacca governor Mohd Ali Rustam should not have announced the dissolution of the state assembly before meeting with PH, which now has the majority.

“In order to maintain political stability in Malacca, the governor should have not announced the dissolution. It was done in haste without considering the opposition’s view.

“The governor should have at least listened to the party which has the majority before deciding.”

The Malacca state assembly was dissolved after four assemblymen on Monday announced they had lost confidence in Sulaiman.

Speaker Abd Rauf Yusoh announced the dissolution yesterday, saying Sulaiman had advised the governor to dissolve the state assembly after losing the majority

Election must be held within 60 days of the dissolution of the state assembly..

The four who cited loss of confidence in the chief minister were Idris Haron (Sungai Udang), Nor Azman Hassan (Pantai Kundor), Noor Effandi Ahmad (Telok Mas) and Norhizam Hassan Baktee (Pengkalan Batu).  

Sulaiman is left with the votes of only a dozen assemblymen – one Bersatu and 11 Barisan Nasional – while the opposition has 15 – 11 Pakatan Harapan, two BN, on Bersatu and one independent). 

The Malacca state assembly has 28 seats. – October 6, 2021.