Perak Pakatan panel declares May 7 meet null and void
(The Malaysian Insider) – After their verbal skirmish with the Barisan Nasional (BN) government authorities in the morning, Perak Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders finally convened its Rights and Privileges Committee meeting at the Syuen Hotel here this afternoon.
During the meeting, chaired by ousted Speaker V. Sivakumar, explanations from three witnesses were heard – Perak DAP chief Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham, constitutional expert Tommy Thomas and Pokok Assam assemblyman Yee Seu Kai.
The meeting was held to investigate Yee’s complaint on the events of the May 7 assembly sitting which saw the forced removal of Sivakumar as Speaker, the appointment of BN’s Datuk R. Ganesan to replace him and the latter’s act of summoning the police into the House.
In a press conference after the hearing, Sivakumar said that it was clear from evidence that the entire sitting had been illegal and should be considered “null and void”.
He said that according to the expert opinion of Thomas, no chairman of any association or body could be removed from his post by his members if the meeting was not officially opened yet.
“Similarly, the May 7 sitting had not yet begun but already the BN introduced the motion to remove me.
“And how could Ganesan be brought into the House as the new Speaker when all that time, I was still in the Speaker’s chair,” he said.
Sivakumar added that since PR deemed the May 7 sitting illegal, he had to proceed on with their duties as the legal Speaker.
“This also means that this committee is the legal Rights and Privileges Committee and we are merely carrying out our duties,” he said.
On why he did not want to choose to wait for the decision of his pending High Court case against Ganesan, due for hearing on August 6, Sivakumar said:
“Like Ganesan, I am just carrying out my rightful duties.
“Until a court decision is reached, I am the Perak Speaker,” he said.
Sivakumar also said that the committee would only reach a decision on Thursday, after it holds a second meeting, arranged to be held again, at the State Secretariat building.
