Career
After three state assemblypersons from the Pakatan Rakyat coalition announced their intention to support a BN candidate for Menteri Besar, and to lend their support to a vote of no confidence in the incumbent Pakatan Rakyat Menteri Besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, Sultan Azlan Shah of Perak requested Nizar"s resignation and swore in Zambry as the new Menteri Besar on 6 February 2009. Zambry acted as Menteri Besar for about three months. However, Nizar maintained that the Sultan was not permitted by the state constitution to dismiss him as the Menteri Besar, and on 11 May 2009, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that Nizar had always been the rightful Menteri Besar of Perak.
To maintain administrative continuity, Nizar tentatively endorsed most of Zambry"s policies, subject to later review, but reinstated the 817 village development and security committees and 318 local government councillors whom Zambry had sacked.
However, the following day, the Court of Appeal granted a stay of the High Court judgment, and Zambry returned to work. His status as Menteri Besar is still in doubt.
Zambry has refused to address the question, while Nizar"s camp insists that the stay is not an over-ruling and that Nizar is still the rightful Menteri Besar. The Malaysian Bar Council"s interpretation of the ruling is that Zambry is only a caretaker Menteri Besar.
On May, 22nd Court of Appeal in a unanimous decision, declared Datuk Seri Doctor Zambry Abdul Kadir as the rightful menteri besar of Perak.
The court held that the order made by the High Court on 11 May, in declaring Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin as the legitimate menteri besar, was wrong and set aside that decision. Justice Maryland Raus, in his oral judgement, also held that the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah, was right in appointing Zambry as the new menteri besar, under Article 16(2) of the Perak Constitution, after being satisfied that Zambry had the command of the majority of the state legislative assembly.
