Perak Assembly adjourned after chaotic & acrid meeting

IPOH, Thurs:

4:08pm: The Perak Assembly has adjourned after a tumultuous meeting that led to ugly shouting matches and the ejection of Speaker V. Sivakumar, who was carried out physically by policemen. Despite the difficult situation, Perak Regent Raja Dr Nazrin Shah delivered his royal address but did not touch on the state's political flux nor the verbal brawls in the House.

The Regent instead focused on praising both the State and Federal Governments for ensuring growth and prosperity in Perak.

Earlier, commotion reigned at the Perak state assembly sitting after Sivakumar refused to start proceedings for as long as Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, the six Barisan Nasional (BN) executive councillors and three Independent assemblymen were in the House.

Immediately after taking his seat at about 10am, Sivakumar ordered the 10 assemblymen to leave the hall on the basis that they had been suspended.

The commotion that ensued left the Regent waiting in the holding Royal Room, for the official opening of the assembly session. Zambry and the other nine assemblymen, however, ignored Sivakumar's order.
Former Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammed Nizar Jamaluddin and his former Exco members remained seated at the seats allocated for the Menteri Besar and exco members, while Zambry and the new exco members were seated on the opposition side.

Zambry then stood and proposed a motion to sack Sivakumar as Speaker, with the 27 BN assemblymen and three Independents raising their hands in support. But Sivakumar rejected the motion and explained that Zambry could not table the motion as he had been suspended from the assembly.

This caused the assemblymen on both sides of the political divide to hurl insults at each other.

Zambry then proposed the motion again, supported by the BN and Independent assemblymen. In response, Sivakumar ordered the House sergeant-at-arms to remove the 10 assemblymen but Zambry said that Sivakumar had been expelled.

At 10.48am, Deputy Speaker Hee Yit Fong then took over to preside over the assembly sitting from the opposition seat.

Zambry then proposed that former Sungkai assemblyman Datuk R. Ganesan be appointed as the new Speaker and the BN assemblymen and Independents supported the motion.

The commotion continued with Sivakumar still occupying the speaker's chair. With both parties claiming theirs is the rightful speaker, the taunting and booing continue and at one point, they almost got physical.

Sivakumar's voice, however, could not be heard clearly as his microphone has been turned off. The new speaker, Datuk R. Ganesan adjourned the session for an hour with Sivakumar claiming it was null and void.

News and Pics : NST Online