Malaysian sultan under pressure over sacking of state government

The sultan of northern Perak state is facing rare criticism over his decision to sack the government without bothering to call a confidence vote in parliament.

Instead, Sultan Azlan Shah decided to assess the balance of power in parliament himself by interviewing three lawmakers from the previous Pakatan Rakyat government who said they were defecting to the National Front coalition, which made up the state opposition.

Satisfied that the National Front then had the numbers in the 59-seat assembly, he sacked Chief Minister Nizar Jamaluddin and installed a new government in the afternoon.

The rest of the cabinet was sworn in on Tuesday.

National Pakatan leader Anwar Ibrahim - who claims the defectors were unlawfully pressured to switch loyalties - is touring the country demanding that the sultan either reinstate Mr Nizar and his ministers or call fresh elections. 'At the very least, he should immediately order a confidence vote. We are confident the defectors would stand with us given a chance,' Mr Anwar told a rally.

However, the next scheduled sitting of the legislature is not until mid-March.

Royalists say the sultan has simply exercised his powers in a valid manner, but constitutional experts argue that he exceeded his traditional authority by not calling for a confidence vote.