Showdown in Perak on 7 May
By Deborah Loh, The Nut Graph
NOW that a sitting of the Perak legislative assembly sitting has been called for 7 May, another showdown is expected because it is being convened without speaker V Sivakumar's consent.
In such a case, constitutional law expert Prof Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi believes Perak's constitutional crisis is far from over despite how recent court decisions have appeared to favour Barisan Nasional (BN).
The court has ruled that the three independents from Behrang, Changkat Jering and Jelapang remain as assemblypersons, while the BN's Menteri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir and six executive councillors had their suspensions from the assembly lifted.
"There is still a deadlock because the speaker would not want this sitting to be held," Shad Saleem tells The Nut Graph.
Notices to Perak assemblypersons that the legislative assembly would convene on 7 May were issued on 17 April by the state secretary's office.
The sitting has to be held before 13 May, the end of the six-month deadline since the last assembly was convened in November 2008. Failure to do so would mean automatic dissolution of the assembly and fresh elections, which the BN has been trying to avoid since their takeover of the state on 5 Feb.
