Perak sweeps the week in Parliament

(The Sun) – It definitely was Perak week in Parliament. The continuing political saga of the silver state preoccupied our representatives in the august chamber of the Dewan Rakyat as well as in the lobby and the Members’ Lounge.

The presence of Maju Institute of Educational Development (MIED) chief executive officer P. Chitrakala Vasu was a welcome distraction to many and led to speculation whether she is going to be the final nemesis of MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu.

Tongues wagged on the Perak saga since the second session of the 12th parliament began three weeks ago but it took centre stage this week with the sitting on Tuesday of the state assemblymen under a tree in Ipoh like the panchayat sessions in rural India, usually under a banyan tree.

There was a flurry of meetings and press conferences with reporters running helter-skelter as they waylaid those in the know for their views, opinions and pronouncements.

Veteran lawyer Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor) was also ambushed by reporters for his views which he gave freely and happily unlike the shock he suffered when a group of Umno Youth members tried to intimidate him last week for saying he wanted to take legal action against the Sultan of Perak for dismissing the Pakatan Rakyat government.

During one of these "ambushes" he told the reporters that the Pakatan Rakyat state assemblymen in Perak could ignore the Ipoh High Court order declaring the meeting under the tree was illegal.

On Tuesday, even before the Dewan Rakyat sitting commenced the excitement among MPs was palpable. Many were reading text messages from their mobile phones and nodding to each other – and even to those across the floor.

They stopped as Deputy Speaker Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar and his officials trooped in and the prayer was read. But immediately after, as they sat down, the MPs began whispering to each other as they received more text messages on their phones.

It was obvious the excitement had little to do with the first business of day, the 90-minute Questions for Oral Answers. Several phones which were not in silent mode rang and MPs were seen hunched over their desks as they answered the calls.

But halfway into the question-and-answer session, Khalid Samad (PAS-Shah Alam) let the cat out of the bag when he remarked: "We are lucky to be meeting in this Dewan when in Perak, the assemblymen had to meet under a tree," before asking his supplementary question on fair trade practices. The thumping of desks that followed was deafening.

His brother Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Samad, who had answered Khalid’s main question on what the government was doing to break the monopoly on products like sugar responded to the remark in his easy relaxed style before answering the question.

"If we are willing to debate and discuss in a civilised way we can resolve matters quite easily. There is no need to meet illegally under a tree," he said to loud cheers from the backbenchers.

The ever reliable N. Gobalakrishnan (PKR-Padang Serai), almost to a cue, was up waving his cudgel as was his wont whenever a fellow Pakatan was under attack. He had come under a lot of media glare after he invited Chitrakala, an admirer-turned-relentless critic of Samy Vellu, to one of the canteens in the parliament’s ground where she held a press conference.

"The tree is necessary. The meeting is held legally as the government is haram," said Gobalakrishnan in response to Shahrir’s remarks. But he was out of order as he stood up without the permission of the deputy speaker.

The deputy speaker tried to get Gobalakrishnan to stop speaking unbidden but the former MIC member was unrestrainable and repeated what he said earlier that "kerajaan Perak itu haram" to shouts of protest from the backbenchers and cheers from the PR representatives.

Wan Junaidi was clearly peeved and told Gobalakrishnan that "this was clearly uncivilised" to which Shahrir, who was still holding the floor, said: "I agree with you Datuk Deputy Speaker."

Much more of what was happening in Perak entered the proceedings of the Dewan Rakyat throughout the week where ministers were responding to points raised during the debate on the vote of thanks to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for his speech when opening the second session of the 12th parliament.

On Wednesday for instance, when Human Resources Minister Datuk S. Subramaniam was late, Datuk Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena) complained loudly about the sitting and remarked that it would probably be better off held under a tree.

When Subramaniam finally showed up to respond to the debate, Mahfuz said rather loudly: "Hey! Where were you? Under the tree with the deer?"

The mild-mannered Subramaniam was unfazed.

Meanwhile, an emergency motion for the Dewan Rakyat to debate the decision of the Perak state secretary to prevent the assemblymen from meeting in the state assembly building was filed by Nga Kor Ming (DAP-Taiping) on Wednesday.

When she came again on Tuesday the politically-savvy Chitrakala told reporters at the lobby she was there to seek a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak "but if he can’t see me I’ll go and see (Datuk Seri) Anwar Ibrahim."