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By Deborah Loh, The Nut Graph

It will be hard for the two former Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) assemblypersons in Perak to challenge their own pre-signed, undated resignation letters, a constitutional lawyer said today.

Jamaluddin Mat Radzi, the assemblyperson for Behrang, and Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu, the assemblyperson for Changkat Jering, can deny having sent the letters all they want, but the law's view is that they have given prior consent to the terms contained in the letter, senior lawyer Tommy Thomas told The Nut Graph.

"The law begins from the premise that as an adult, once you sign a document, even if it is undated, and you leave it in another person's care, you have signified your consent. The law assumes you had the right to say no when asked to sign it," Thomas said in a phone interview today.

"Pre-signed resignation letters are a common practice by political parties all over the world and have been used many times before. Even if the [assemblypersons] now deny quitting, the fact is they signed that letter.

Tommy Thomas"If they try to challenge it, the law will say, who asked you to sign it in the first place? It will also be difficult for politicians to prove that they signed it under duress," Thomas said.

Thomas was asked to comment on the legality of the pre-signed resignation letters sent to the Perak state assembly speaker V Sivakumar yesterday.

READ MORE HERE

Comments (24)

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written by batsman, February 02, 2009 18:59:39

All this shows how exciting it is to be Malaysian at this time. It is like a Hollywood movie. C4, bad cops, bribed politicians. All we need is for James Bond to appear.

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written by batsman, February 02, 2009 19:00:28

Maybe even Jack Bauer - who knows?

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written by chanatak, February 02, 2009 19:04:41

Love of money is the root of evil. Money is not. It is the greed. These 2 are surely dirty. Not only are they dirty ... they are stupid and groveling pigs at the feet of UMNO. UMNO has caught them once with their pants down. PKR stood behind them nonetheless. At that time, we believed that UMNO pulled a quickie on them. But it does look like they were guilty of the charges then. They had actually fallen for UMNO's trick and thought that they were going to get the money. And because they are guilty, they taught they are going in for a triple bonus deal with UMNO this time - i.e. they get their dirty hands on dirty UMNO money, UMNO get their charges withdrawn and they still sit in the state government.

Now they get nothing! UMNO did it to them again. Orang bodoh memang orang bodoh.

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written by othman hitam, February 02, 2009 19:05:18

Jamaluddin Mat Radzi dan Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu....inilah akibat buat dulu baru fikir.
Kalau sakit, kenapa putuskan hubungan? Tak ada salahnya beritahu YAB MB kita yang sakit ..takkan dia nak paksa datang kerja juga...

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written by MNor, February 02, 2009 19:19:22

Once all done with, its better for those 2 donkeys to jump into the Perak river.

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written by Kacang Tanah, February 02, 2009 19:22:14

Bukan main syioknya sembunyi diri dan biar orang lain mencari-cari. Sekarang baru tahu akibatnya cuba mempermain-mainkan orang lain.

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written by future, February 02, 2009 19:31:33

Padan muka....ingatkan diri sendiri dah pandai rupa2nya orang lain lagi pandai.

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written by yipck, February 02, 2009 19:34:11

Serve them right on the 2 MP.
When everyone already tried all the method and on Newspaper announcement trying to locate them, they should at least response with news on their whereabout or well being.

Even their own family member has no idea where they are.

This kind of MP, can dump already cos they don't respect the people's call for them.

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written by Fuminari, February 02, 2009 19:34:44

beware!MNor sounds like a umno sent cyber trooper to stir trouble.it is umno n not the bangsa...MNor!!

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written by ahmadneil, February 02, 2009 19:44:21

Whether they sign or no sign,valid or not valid,just kick them out.They are traitors to the rakyats.This guys are nothing but shit.Let them take the money and rot in hell.

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written by Beezee_Beezee, February 02, 2009 20:32:26

It does not matter whether PR or UMNO were right, these shows how SHELLOW the Values of our MALAY leaders. Non of them are Telling the truth. Two wrong won't make one right. It seems that only the Malay Leaders are untrust-whorthy, no integrity and have not earn any respect of the people of the country.
If one is trury right why make things so difficult for others.
We have spent so much Public money for the last 11 months over politics whcih being politicised by all parties.
Malaysian should learn to be more tolerant towards doing the right things. Authority who carry the emblom of ALLAH and AGONG should DARE the government to do the right things, The AG should be trust-worthy in discharging his duty in the name of ALLAH. Being a Muslim. What we sees as the people of the country all these leaders and authority are worst that a Kindergarden children.
They should seeks the advise of the people like Guru Nick for his gudiance.
Hopefully these leaders will realised before thigs are going worst.

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written by medicshan, February 02, 2009 21:37:20

Pity the two PKR MPs. PKR has called their bluff before they could cross over to BN to save their own skins. Be it as it may, they don't deserve to be MPs. Perak deserves better. And as for Najib, isn't he a psychopath?

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written by clarity, February 02, 2009 21:39:21

To the 2 assembly persons- Have you no shame? Do you know the meaning of dignity? No, I don't suppose you do. I hope you will go the same way as Altantuya.

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written by magickriver, February 02, 2009 21:45:51

That fellow Firdaus Saharuddin who was despatched to speak to the press as Jamaluddin's stand-in was a public relations disaster. His defensive stance, arrogant tone of voice and general caginess reeked of an Umno "damage control" operation. Najib has bungled badly once again. His fingerprints are all over the place, revealing Umno as a morally bankrupt party that can only resort to bribery and threats to hold on to power. Still, it's astounding that that pink-lipped pussy-whipped panjandrum hasn't caved in under all this relentless pressure - guess he's fighting tooth and nail to keep his witchy wife and himself out of jail.

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written by kensball, February 02, 2009 21:49:51

Jamaluddin Mat Radzi and Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu, the whole world are looking for you but you keep silent just like hiding from along...we know what you thinking

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written by Badrol, February 02, 2009 22:06:24

The two idiots will be a has been and a nobody. Hope they'll drool and salivate whenever they see a toyota camry 2.4 pass them by because that's the car they're supposed to be chauffuered around as the state exco member.

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written by A MI, February 02, 2009 22:20:13

These 2 goons were fielded by PKR right? However, in retrospect it is apparent they obviously have enough skeletons in their closets for Najis/ BeeEnd to reel them in. These 2 are finished!

But what is important is for PR to do a background check on future candidates

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written by aryn, February 02, 2009 22:31:34

But there is a precedent in Sabah in 1990s. The High Court ruled in favour of a PBS assemblyman who challenged similar letter that he signed.

Many in Sabah, including the legal circle, questioned the ruling. That PBS rep joined a BN party. So you know what that means.

But things are different now. Unless of course the judge who will hear this case, if it comes to court, is pro Umno or pressured to deliver a bias ruling taking into account the 1990s precedent.

Let's all make noise and call for a just judge.

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written by Ron, February 02, 2009 23:13:44

Najis may kidnap the election comm and the judiciary.Then on all decisions will be strange.Mamak has done it for 20 years and got away.

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written by LKO, February 02, 2009 23:38:55

To be honest, I think the judiciary is braver now than ever before. If the the past, the Government could push through whatever it wants, with the paradigm shift on Mar 8, 08, the fear is broken.

How else could RPK get away with challenging ISA, even though he is right? In this case, I believe the 2 ex-ADUN, was taken for a good ride by UMNO. They will be left with nothing.

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written by sahabat, February 02, 2009 23:45:29

SPR will deliberate the undated resignation letters tomorrow. They will of course seek advice from UMNO's lawyers.

Knowing very well that Najis is to be the PM in March believe me these undated resignation letters will be treated null and void.

But Tommy Thomas said this undated resignation letter is widely and validly used in other countries in the world. We are hoping for this.

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written by miwaki, February 03, 2009 00:18:08

You can presign any letter but immediately you must go to see a commissioner for oath and make a statutory declaration to annul it.Malaysians are expert on making statutory declaration,do I have to teach Jamaluddin Kapoot and Marie Osman.

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written by ToeJam, February 03, 2009 08:51:32

"The law begins from the premise that as an adult....."

There hope for UMNO to go before the courts after all.... their lawyers can argue in court that these 2 aren't thinking like adults and hence their signatures don't count.

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written by asguard, February 03, 2009 09:00:24

Its a good move to have those pre-signed agreement letters... we might never known when those those hantus from UMNO will buy those PR candidates.. given UMNO failure to win the Permatang Pauh seat and Kuala Terengganu seat... so the easy way out is to buy the seat rather than facing another lost and tie slap from public..election after election!

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