Perak's Pakatan reps to attend assembly sitting

By FMT Staff

KUALA LUMPUR: Perak Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen have agreed to attend the Aug 3 sitting after receiving a notice from “their legitimate speaker” V Sivakumar.

“We received the letter from legitimate speaker (from Pakatan) Sivakumar to attend the assembly sitting on Aug 3 at 10am," said Pakatan's MP and Pasir Panjang assemblyman Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin.

“We will now attend because the notice came from Sivakumar,” he added.

He said Barisan Nasional speaker R Ganesan had also sent them a notice informing them of the Aug 3 Perak assembly sitting.

“But our decision today is based on Sivakumar’s letter and not a notice from the illegal speaker (Ganesan),” said Nizar, referring to the incident on May 7 last year when Sivakumar was forcibly removed from the assembly hall on Ganesan's orders.

Sivakumar had subsequently filed a civil suit against Ganesan, seeking damages and an injunction to restrain Ganesan or his agents from prohibiting him from exercising his duties as speaker.

But on Sept 8 last year, the Ipoh High Court dismissed his suit on the grounds that the court could not interfere or question the validity of any proceedings in any state legislative assembly by virtue of Article 72 (1) of the Federal Constitution.

Waiting for the agenda

Meanwhile, Nizar, who is also Bukit Gantang MP, expressed hope that the sitting this time round will be conducted according to regulations.

“We have informed them that we want the assembly to be conducted smoothly and in accordance with the set rules. We have also submitted an agenda and meeting order.

“Todate, however, we have not received any agenda from the illegal speaker. So we don’t really know what will happen and what will be debated during the sitting.

“He (Ganesan) did not say anything about the agenda in his letter. There was also no mention of questions-and-answers, written or verbal, so we don’t know what will happen on Aug 3,” said Nizar.

The last Perak sitting was held on March 30 and 31 and went down in history as the shortest ever state assembly sitting.

Nizar was replaced as the menteri besar by Umno's Zambry Abd Kadir when BN took over the state last year.