I will attend assembly, says Zambry

By Shannon Teoh-The Malaysian Insider

IPOH, Feb 20 — In yet another twist to the Perak political crisis, it is Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir’s turn to defy “orders”. He said he will defy Speaker V Sivakumar’s suspension order and attend the next assembly sitting.

Calling the hearing held before the state assembly’s rights and privileges committee a “kangaroo court”, he maintained that Sivakumar had no jurisdiction to suspend him unilaterally for something which happened outside the assembly.

“He suspended me under Section 72 of the Standing Orders but it says you must bring your report and recommendation to the assembly for it to decide,” he said.

“The appointment is not by the Speaker but by the Sultan. This is an implied challenge to the powers of the Sultan,” Zambry said in an exclusive interview with The Malaysian Insider this afternoon.

Two days ago, Sivakumar, as chairman of the rights and privileges committee, decided that Zambry and his six exco members would be suspended from attending the assembly for 18 and 12 months respectively for contempt of the assembly after they accepted their “unconstitutional” appointments and were sworn into office.

The move added yet another complication to the constitutional crisis that has gripped the Silver State after Barisan Nasional (BN) initiated a power grab on Feb 5.

If the decision is upheld, then Pakatan Rakyat (PR) could ostensibly win a confidence vote in the assembly as BN would be down to 21 members which would lose out to PR’s 28 even if the three “independent” candidates were allowed to attend to cast their support behind BN.

“I will attend the assembly, that is quite clear, and I will exhaust all legal avenues,” he declared, adding that he was still consulting his legal advisors.

Zambry also said that Sivakumar had behaved unfairly during the inquiry.

Displaying the letter sent by Sivakumar and his own affidavit that he prepared, he said that the claim by the Speaker that he “had not provided any explanation for his actions which was in contempt of the assembly” was a “lie of the most serious nature committed by the Speaker”.

“He just asked me to answer the charge with a yes or no. But I had prepared preliminary objections against the charge. It was like a kangaroo court,” he said.

The Pangkor assemblyman said that while some had advised him not to pay heed to the Speaker’s summon since BN was now the legitimate government, he had decided to present himself out of “respect to the institution” of the Speaker.

But he said that Sivakumar, who is DAP’s assemblyman for Tronoh, had acted “unethically”.