KUALA LUMPUR, March 13: Malaysia’s Chinese-based opposition party said on Thursday it will attend a ceremony after all to swear in a state government led by a hardline Islamist party allied to it in last weekend’s election.
The Democratic Action Party retracted on Thursday a threat to boycott the ceremony made after the Sultan of Perak, ruler of the state, named Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party as chief minister.
DAP adviser and the opposition leader in the last parliament, Lim Kit Siang, said on Wednesday the appointment “caused shock and consternation” since it and a third party in the alliance, People’s Justice, won more state seats in Saturday’s election.
But Ngeh Koo Ham, DAP chairman for Perak who is in line to become the state’s deputy chief minister, said it was all a “little misunderstanding”, noting Perak’s constitution requires a Muslim to be chief minister.
He also seemed mollified that DAP, backed mainly by the ethnic Chinese minority, would get most of the seats in the state cabinet. So he cannot go along with policies without our approval.”
Now People’s Justice is upset.
The party, led by former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, said it does not think the proposed cabinet line-up reflects “the composition of the population of Perak”, and said in a statement if it’s not altered the party would not take part in government.—Reuters
