When Bota assemblyman Nasaruddin quit UMNO to join PKR last week, PM Badawi called him weak. There were stories that the ADUN was offered posts or enticed with somethings, which obviously the ADUN denied.

Now, with two PKR assemblymen causing sleepless nights for Perak state government and Anwar, it wil be interesting to see what PM Badawi will say if these guys do quit PKR and defect to UMNO. Will BN accept weak people or will they be called heroes and patriots?

Stories are abound that the two – Behrang assemblyperson Jamaluddin Mat Radzi and Changkat Jering assemblyperson Osman Jailu were seen in Pekan together with Deputy PM Najib, while PR leader admit couldn’t get into touch with them for last few days. Menteri Besar Nizar said they were going to lodge police report on missing persons since it has been 5 days.

Most interesting is this: They were charged in a Sessions Court on Aug 25 last year with allegedly receiving bribes over the application for a RM180 million housing project in Sri Iskandar in Perak Tengah. Their case comes up for hearing on Feb 10. So in addition to being weak, they are suspects in a criminal case. All this while PR leaders said it was a frame-up, while UMNO leaders bayed for blood. Now, will UMNO accept them?

Things got worse today when Perak state assembly speaker V Sivakumar said that he had received letters of resignation from the two guys at about 5.45pm at his house (via fax?).  Sivakumar subsequently proclaimed the seats as vacant and will inform Election Commission to hold by-election in 60 days. The resignation was denied by one of them – Jamaluddin (who said he was on MC all this while):

“This is an undated letter that I and six other PKR assemblymen were made to sign in March last year,” he said.

He said that the letter was only a pledge of loyalty, stating that if they (the state representative) were to ever quit PKR, they would automatically vacate their seats.

He added that the letter was signed under duress and that he would be discussing the legality of it with his lawyers.

“I am still Behrang assemblyman,” Jamaluddin was quoted as saying.

“Osman and I are still PKR state representatives and have never declared our intentions to leave the party or to become independents, or to join Umno,” he said, according to a Bernama report.

But in the Star, its reported that the assemblyman is quitting PKR and will be an independent.

So, the plot thickens.

I suspect these two guys are jumping ship, since both Malaysiakini and NST quoted PM Badawi as confirming that some PKR assemblymen are defecting to UMNO, while Star said “he neither denied nor confirmed”.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today revealed that several Pakatan Rakyat state representatives from Perak could soon join the Barisan Nasional.

“God willing, it will happen,” he was quoted as saying by Bernama. He said this when asked to comment on talks that two missing Perak Pakatan state excos are defecting to BN.

… He refused to state the identity or the number of Pakatan representatives that are planning to defect.

He however added that elected representatives would want to join Umno because they had confidence in its struggle.

“(We will) accept them as it is their choice and they want to join us in the struggle… it will be a new experience for them and allow them the opportunities to serve through the BN,” said Abdullah.

“We will make the official announcement when all things are in place,” he added.

There was also question marks over deputy assembly speaker Hee Yit Fong of DAP who was missing from recent functions. Some claimed she will move to MCA. But this was denied by Hee today.

Meanwhile, on a seemingly unrelated story, Karpal Singh said that DAP will support BN’s call to create an anti-hopping law.

If those two guys quit PKR and move to UMNO (or remain independent on paper), will the court case favor them? Can the undated resignation letter be challenged?