IPOH, April 30 - Perak's 817 Pakatan Rakyat-elected village chiefs will take the Barisan Nasional government to court for sacking them before their term expired in 2010.
They will also ignore BN's termination order and continue with their duties.
These were among the six resolutions passed unanimously by the group during a briefing with PR state leaders here today.
Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, who still maintains he is the mentri besar, attended the briefing and told a press conference that the suit would be filed at an appropriate date and time.
"We will choose the best time to do this and you will be informed in due course," he said.
He added that the suit was for breach of contract, in view of the fact that BN had fired the village chiefs before their tenures were up.
"They are all still in possession of their appointment letters which are still valid and were given to them by the legitimate mentri besar," he said.
The appointment letters, which were distributed to the village chiefs after the village elections last year, states that the group's tenures were for two years beginning Aug 1, 2008, until July 31, 2010.
Despite this, they each received letters from their district officers earlier this month, informing them that the state government had terminated their services beginning April 16.
The letters also stated the village development and security committees (JKKKs) headed by them would be disbanded immediately.
Since then, Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir had reportedly said that the state had the right to hire or fire the village heads and dissolve the JKKKs.
He had said that he state's village administration could be carried out by the Federal Government's equivalent of the JKKK, the JKKKP.
Meanwhile, Nizar also urged the village chiefs not to be afraid to continue carrying out their duties despite BN's decision to terminate them.
"There is no reason for them to be afraid because they were elected by the people," he said.
Besides the two resolutions, the village chiefs also decided to form an action committee to coordinate the protest against their termination, send a memorandum to the BN government and lodge a police report.
The group, which comprises both PR and BN supporters, also agreed that the best way to end the political deadlock in Perak was to dissolve the state assembly.
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