Sivakumar says he is still the Speaker

Sivakumar gestures that he is still the Speaker at today’s press conference at the Perak DAP office in Ipoh. With him are DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang and other party leaders. — Picture by Choo Choy May

By Adib Zalkapli - The Malaysian Insider

IPOH, May 8 — Ousted Perak Assembly Speaker V. Sivakumar, the man at the heart of yesterday's chaotic state legislative sitting here, maintained today the controversial session of the state assembly was never convened, and that he still holds office.

"From 9.45 in the morning until I was dragged out, I hold on to one fact that as long as the 10 assemblymen do not leave the House, the proceedings will not begin," said Sivakumar.

He was referring to his refusal yesterday to convene the sitting unless Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir and six Barisan Nasional state executive councillors left the chambers on the basis that had been suspended by the state rights and privileges committee.

Sivakumar had also asked three BN friendly independent lawmakers to leave the chambers.

"When a decision has been made by the rights and privileges committee I am also legally bound to it," he told reporters at a press conference here.

Sivakumar added that the refusal of senior civil servants to take their seats showed that there were plans to defy the Speaker.

"Clearly they had made plans to ignore the Speaker as they wanted a new Speaker," he added.

The assembly, which was consented by the palace, saw the removal of Sivakumar and the election of MIC's Datuk R. Ganesan as the Speaker by BN representatives who convened a separate session within the assembly before Raja Nazrin Shah officially declared open the sitting.

Sivakumar was also detained inside a room for one hour after he was dragged out of the chambers by policemen at the instruction of Ganesan.

Meanwhile, DAP state secretary Nga Kor Ming vowed to bring the matter to international forums including the Commonwealth Parliamentarian Association (CPA).

"The House Speaker was strangled and forcibly dragged out of the assembly, and this has not only saddened Malaysians who love democracy but also shows that the legislature is in danger," said Nga, reiterating his stand that the state assembly should be dissolved.