There is a do-or-die air to the Perak Legislative Assembly session today, with the legality of the Barisan Nasional government at risk.
PERAK politics is about to boil over again.
High drama is expected at the State Legislative Assembly which will sit today or, as one Ipoh journalist put it rather dramatically: “All hell may break loose.”
The political build-up to the session has been tremendous and Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir looks calm but is expecting the worst.
He is convinced the Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen will do everything possible to derail the session so they will be another step nearer to a snap state election.
The Barisan Nasional side is expecting a repeat of the chaos and free-for-all that erupted during the May 7 session.
Former Mentri Besar Datuk Nizar Jamalud-din, on the other hand, is also anticipating a stormy session.
But the storm, he alleged, will be caused by “thugs” who will replace the Sergeant-at-Arms in the House.
He was no doubt referring to the way the then Speaker V. Sivakumar was dragged out of the House during the May sitting.
Perak’s lawmakers, it seems, are about to behave like law-breakers again.
“For sure, they will try to disrupt the proceedings. Who knows, they may try to grab the seats meant for the government, the mace or even the Speaker’s chair,” said Datuk Chang Ko Youn, adviser on Chinese affairs to the Perak government.
State exco member Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon said: “We are prepared for any eventuality but it will not be a repeat of the 507 incident (the May 7 sitting) because we are in control this time.”
According to Dr Mah, several scenarios are possible today.
The first scenario is that the session may go smoothly with limited incidents. However, at this point in time, hopes for a trouble-free sitting is akin to having a cow jump over the moon.
Second, Sivakumar, may try to grab the Speaker’s chair again as he is still behaving as though he is the Speaker and had sent out notices of the sitting to the assemblymen.
His use of stationery bearing the Speaker’s official letterhead is now a police case and talk is rife that he may face legal action.
Third, Speaker Datuk R. Ganesan may be allowed to take the chair but the Pakatan assemblymen will create a scene to disrupt the sitting.
Fourth, the Pakatan assemblymen may walk out if they do not get their way and carry on with their agenda outside of the House.
So many unimaginable things have happened in Perak politics that whatever takes place today is unlikely to shock any more.
There have been assemblies held under a tree and in a hotel. People have been arrested for wearing black and jokes abound about there being 1Malaysia and 2Perak.
One police report after another has been lodged by the two sides, the most bizarre being that by one Speaker accusing the other of stealing the Speaker’s gold-threaded ceremonial robe.
A lot is stake for both sides. Time is running out for Dr Zambry.
He has to convene a session before Nov 7 or the legality of his government will be in jeopardy and the assembly will have to be automatically dissolved.
Nizar’s side is desperate to prevent a sitting for exactly the same reason. If Pakatan succeeds in preventing the session from going through, then it could force a snap state election.
Given this, there is a do-or-die air to today’s gathering.
Pakatan’s agenda since it was toppled earlier this year has been to keep up the political momentum for their cause preferably with shock tactics that will make people sit up, take notice and not forget.
It is their form of psychological warfare.
Challenging each and every sitting of the legislative assembly is their way of showing that they do not recognise the Barisan government.
As Pasir Pinji assemblyman Thomas Su declared: “The Barisan has no locus standi to present the Budget.”
Perak has been one big political war zone since the Pakatan government fell to the Barisan.
Today’s sitting will be another battle in the bigger war for control of the state.
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