Perak impasse likely to last till next polls
By Zubaidah Abu Bakar (NST)
THE people of Perak are seeing double. Depending on which side of the political divide they support, they recognise two menteris besar, two state assembly secretaries and the latest, two state assembly speakers.
The political debacle and constitutional impasse in this Silver state plunged deeper after a chaotic assembly that saw Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen engaging in a war of words and shoving each other that led to the removal of Speaker V. Sivakumar.
He was replaced by BN's Datuk R. Ganesan.
The manner of Sivakumar's ejection from the house with the help of plainclothes policemen is not expected to go down well with opposition supporters.
Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir had defended Ganesan's move to order the police to remove Sivakumar.
He blamed Pakatan state representatives for disrupting the proceedings.
"They left their seats and rudely attacked BN and independent representatives, as well as created a chaotic and uncontrolled situation."
The police intervention, however, did not please the Malaysian Bar Council. Its president, Ragunath Kesavan, said the authorities had acted in an unjustifiable and unacceptable manner when policemen physically removed Sivakumar, who is Tronoh assemblyman, from the hall.
Sivakumar had sat on the speaker's chair from 10.15am, refusing to begin the sitting until Zambry and his six executive council members and the three independent candidates left the hall.
Sivakumar was removed from the house about 2.45pm.
While Sivakumar declared he did not recognise Ganesan as the new speaker, the new speaker argued that the issue of him being the "illegal speaker" did not arise as BN had the majority in the house.
"As far as Pakatan is concerned, the house did not sit today," said ousted menteri besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin.
To the BN, the Perak state assembly had been convened legally for the motions, including one to remove the speaker, which were duly passed and adopted.
Pakatan leaders are likely to wait till Monday when the High Court decides whether Nizar is successful in having the court proclaim him as the rightful menteri besar before taking the next step which is likely to be to get the court to declare yesterday's sitting as illegal.
And should the court allow Nizar's application, he would likely go back to the palace to ask for a dissolution of the state assembly to allow the people of Perak to choose who they want to govern the state.
"What happened in the state assembly cannot be accepted as legal in any civilised country," said Prof James Chin of Monash University, Malaysia.
While public opinion on the proceedings is not anywhere near to getting the thumbs up, the constitutional crisis is most certain to be prolonged until the next general election, unless one of the parties gives in, which is highly unlikely given their determination to remain in control.
"Yesterday's episode will make Pakatan more popular, gaining sympathy votes in the Penanti by-election at the end of the month and the 13th general election," Dr Sivamurugan Pandian of Universiti Sains Malaysia said.
He does not believe that Pakatan assemblymen in Perak will vacate their seats, whether en bloc or one by one, to create a momentum to last until the next general election as some political observers have said will happen.
How much longer the people of Perak have to bear with the antics of politicians from both sides is anybody's guess.
