Zambry: Police called in to maintain order
(The Star) IPOH: Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir defended Speaker Datuk R. Ganesan’s decision to ask for police back-up to help the Sergeant-at-Arms remove former Speaker V. Sivakumar from the Chair.
Police, he said, had to be called into the State Assembly to maintain order in the House.
The Sergeant-at-Arms, he said, was roughed up by Pakatan assemblymen three times when the Speaker asked him to remove Sivakumar.
“In the pushing and shoving, the Sergeant-at-Arms injured a leg,” he said.
The upheaval caused the flower pot near the Raja Muda’s seat to be broken, he told reporters at his office here yesterday after the adjournment of the State Assembly.
Reading from a four-page text, Dr Zambry said Ganesan had been patient since 10.15am when he was elected Speaker.
He had delayed the sitting twice before taking the drastic action of calling in the police.
“Sivakumar was not cooperative when the Speaker ordered him to vacate his Chair,” he said, noting that the order was given twice.
Dr Zambry said the Opposition had adopted the law of the jungle. He lambasted the Opposition for not respecting the royal institution.
“Because of their actions, the Raja Muda had to wait for about five hours before he could declare the assembly open,” he said.
Later, Dr Zambry said it was the Speaker’s prerogative to allow policemen into the assembly. “If he finds that the situation cannot be controlled, he can ask the police to come in.
“When they were in power before, we followed the principle that they were the majority. But now when we have the majority of 31, the same principle does not apply with them.”
Ganesan said Barisan Nasional carried out its duties as stated in the Standing Order.
The manner in which Sivakumar started the assembly was wrong. “It was his actions that led to all these problems,” he said, adding that his election was in accordance with the House Standing Order.
Umno Youth information chief Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican condemned the “extremely rude and rough” behaviour of the Pakatan assemblymen, saying the actions were meant to sabotage the sitting.
