KUALA LUMPUR - DATUK Seri Nizar Jamaluddin of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) - buoyed by a High Court ruling on Monday that he was the rightful Perak Menteri Besar - resumed his duties as chief minister on Tuesday, but for only about seven hours.

His rival for the post, Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir from Barisan Nasional (BN), won a stay of execution from the Appeals Court that allowed him to reclaim the title.

This meant that the state administration, already bewildered by three months of bitter fighting between the two political groups, is back with BN.

The 'stay of execution' means that the High Court ruling cannot be enforced until the Appeals Court gives a fresh verdict on the case. No date has been set for a new Appeals Court hearing.

Lawyers say that could take three to six months. Confusing? You bet.

The chief minister's post has become a veritable revolving door for the two men with both going back and forth in the courts.

PR lawyers are expected to file an urgent application today to set aside the stay decision by the Appeals Court's single judge, according to Malaysiakini.

'The Perak battle is likely to go now to the courts. But this charade is getting tiresome,' Datuk Wong Chun Wai, group chief editor of The Star newspaper, wrote in his blog yesterday.

Mr Nizar on Tuesday said he accepted the decision and would let BN take over again. He and his top officers had clocked in at 8am yesterday, for the first time in three months. But they clocked out again in the late afternoon when they were escorted out.

Mr Nizar was adamant that a statewide election was the only way to resolve the power struggle between BN and PR.

Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.