Assembly turns farcical as BN and Opposition slug it out

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THE Perak assembly again turned farcical when both sides of the political divide held simultaneous “sittings”.

Assembly Speaker Datuk R. Gane-san and ousted Speaker V. Sivakumar (DAP-Tronoh) spoke from their respective chairs.

While Barisan Nasional, led by Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir, tried to present its Budget, which was passed later, the Oppo-sition, led by former Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, “tabled” and “passed” three motions in a sitting that was not as fiery as the previous one, but just as noisy.

No opposition: Empty seats can be seen on the right after Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen walked out of the hall during the Perak state assembly sitting. The Pakatan assemblymen had come in as the House took a break and held their own sitting in their half of the hall. They walked out soon after when the official session resumed. Earlier, some of the Pakatan assemblymen claimed they were manhandled by police while former speaker S. Sivakumar claimed that his robe was ripped off by policemen.

The assembly sitting, the second of the 12th session, started at 10am without the presence of the Oppo­sition members.

They were held up by tight security checks at several locations of the State Secretariat building where the state assembly is located.

Shouts were heard from outside the assembly hall as Opposition members objected to the stringent police checks.

Upon entering the House, Ganesan became the target of jibes and jeers from the Opposition members.

Some questioned why Ganesan was not in his Speaker’s robe. Others asked him to wear a saree.

Thomas Su (DAP-Pasir Pinji) also chided Ganesan for allowing police personnel in the House.

Earlier, Ganesan postponed the sitting for an hour — to 11.20am — when he saw Nizar, Sivakumar and the other Opposition members entering the hall.

After being ushered to their res-pective seats, A. Sivasubramaniam (DAP-Buntong) told Ganesan to vacate his seat for Sivakumar.

Opposition representatives then proceeded to hold their own sitting and passed the following resolutions — that 1Malaysia camps be suspended following the Kuala Dipang incident, that the satisfactory performance of the Perak Pakatan Rakyat state government last year as reported in the Auditor-General’s report be recorded and the nomination of former Perak PKR chief Osman Abdul Rahman as a senator.

At this juncture, Barisan backbenchers, led by Pengkalan Hulu assemblyman Datuk Seri Mohd Tajol Rosli Ghazali, stood up and started to mingle and chat with fellow political colleagues.

When Ganesan reconvened the sitting to allow Dr Zambry to continue presenting his Budget, the Opposition tried hard to disrupt him by jeering at him.

The voices of the backbenchers, who stood up to second the Budget, were drowned by the shouts.

The Opposition then left for the assembly library to hold a press conference.

Dr Zambry later proposed that the assembly be adjourned sine die after taking a few written questions from the backbenchers.

Outside the State Secretariat building, the mood was just as tense with heavy presence of police and the Federal Reserve Unit.

A police helicopter also hovered over Pakatan supporters who had gathered near the building.