IPOH, Oct 19 – Perak Speaker Datuk R. Ganesan (picture) has promised Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen that he would give them due respect during the contentious Oct 28 state assembly sitting.
“I will not be like them and try to stop proceedings from taking place. I will be democratic and allow them to have their say when they want to while the House is in session,” he told The Malaysian Insider today.
Ganesan said that although the 28 PR assemblymen had refused to submit their written questions to the House to be presented to the state administration, he would still allow them to cut in with supplementary questions.
“Like I said, I will not stop them. They can ask their questions,” he said.
He added that the PR lawmakers would also be given the opportunity to debate the Barisan Nasional’s budget, which will be tabled by Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir.
“They will be given ample time to prepare their debates and have their voices heard,” he said.
It remains to be seen however, if the PR representatives have any intention at all to participate in the Oct 28 sitting.
Their presence for the sitting, they have said, is not to heed Ganesan’s call for the assembly but their own Speaker V. Sivakumar's.
Prior to this, PR assemblymen had also lambasted Ganesan for failing to include a copy of the state’s budget in his notice informing the assemblymen of the sitting, which was sent out on Oct 12.
They claimed such a practice was common convention, to give the assemblymen time to prepare their debate speeches.
The PR representatives also said that Ganesan had unfairly given them only one day to submit their written questions to the House, an act which they claimed meant that the latter was trying to discourage them from attending the assembly in the first place.
“This is not true at all. I was an assemblyman myself before and the normal practice is that the Mentri Besar tables the budget, which is subsequently distributed to the representatives of the House.
“Only then do they prepare their debates,” said Ganesan.
He added that the state assemblymen had almost six months to prepare their written questions.
“Come on, they are state assemblymen who have been serving their constituencies for so long. Don't tell me that they are unable to think of issues to post up to the government?” he said.
Ganesan, however, said that he was unsure if the other BN assemblymen had sent up their questions yet.
On the seating in the House, Ganesan said it would be as usual, with the government of the day seated at his right and the Opposition on the left.
“However, even if they (PR) insist on sitting on the right side, it does not make them the legitimate government. It is just a seating arrangement,” he said.
Meanwhile, State Secretary Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Hashim said he would have a meeting with Ganesan before the end of this week to discuss preparations for the assembly.
“It will be just normal preparations, like what we usually do,” he assured The Malaysian Insider.
During the last assembly, security was extremely tight and those who were allowed into the hall were first screened at the door and checked for identification.
Plainclothes policemen were also allowed to be present inside the state assembly hall and had sprung to action when they were called upon to forcibly remove Sivakumar from the Speaker's chair.
The media were also made to apply for special passes, an unprecedented practice, and there was limited space for journalists who wanted to cover the sitting.
On the security situation outside of the State Secretariat, Perak police chief Deputy Commissioner Datuk Pahlawan Zulkifli Abdullah said that he would release a statement in the next two days.
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