Malaysia Opposition Meets Under Tree, Calls Poll

The battle to rule the poor northwestern state of Perak exemplifies the political uncertainties that have beset Malaysia since elections.

A fight between Malaysia's government and opposition for control of a state legislature deepened on Tuesday after the opposition called for new elections and a court ruled it had acted illegally.

The battle to rule the poor northwestern state of Perak exemplifies the political uncertainties that have beset Malaysia since elections a year ago, when the ruling National Front coalition suffered its worst-ever election results.

It also comes when a new premier is set to assume office later this month with the economy on the brink of recession.

Last month, the National Front government seized control of the opposition-led state by winning over defectors from Anwar Ibrahim's People's Alliance, which refused to accept it had lost control of the state.

In a move to regain power, the People's Alliance state speaker last month suspended six legislators who backed the national government.

On Tuesday, barred by riot police from entering the state building and after minor scuffles, legislators from the People's Alliance convened the state assembly under a nearby tree and voted for new state elections.

"So we are crying from the bottom of our hearts for the people of Perak to urge the sultan to listen to the voices of the people and dissolve the state assembly," People's Alliance state leader Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin told a press conference after the vote.

The sultan is the titular head of Perak state and one of nine in Malaysia who take turns being a ceremonial king.

A High Court in the state capital of Ipoh later ruled that the speaker could not order any state assembly sittings, leaving control of the state in flux.

The political chaos in Perak is taking place as Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak readies an emergency spending package to revive economic growth, which shrank to its lowest level in eight years in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Najib will assume the premiership on March 31 after the departure of the incumbent, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who presided over last March's elections in which the National Front lost its two-thirds majority in parliament and an unprecedented five of thirteen states ended up under opposition control.