Pakatan asks court to quash police ban in Ipoh

ARCHIVES 2009

By admin-s On Sep 2, 2009

Sivakumar’s (centre) failure to obtain an injunction on the Perak state secretary means a lockdown is in place at the state secretariat today. — file pic

(The Malaysian Insider) KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 — In a race against time, Perak’s Pakatan Rakyat (PR) faction will be rushing to the Ipoh magistrate’s court at 8am today to set aside another court order barring the public from going near the state secretariat building, ahead of its scheduled assembly sitting at 10am.

The PR alliance, headed by speaker V. Sivakumar, had yesterday failed to get an injunction from the Ipoh high court to stop state secretary Datuk Abdul Rahman Hashim, whom they accuse of being biased towards its political rival Barisan Nasional (BN), from flexing his muscles and blocking the assembly from sitting.

According to PR’s calculations, the assembly must sit tomorrow or be automatically dissolved. Perak’s Constitution provides for only a six-month gap between sittings.

But according to BN, the assembly’s expiry date is on November 7.

Sensing trouble, state police chief, Datuk Pahlawan Zulkifli Abdullah, succeeded in getting a court order under Section 98 of the Criminal Procedure Code to block anyone from going within 30 metres of the fence encircling the state government headquarters at Ipoh’s Jalan Panglima Bukit Gantang Wahab from 1am today until 11pm tomorrow.

“The police have been informed by the state government that there is no state assembly sitting scheduled for Sept 2,” Bernama reported Zulkifli saying yesterday, adding that he had checked with the BN elected speaker, Datuk R. Ganesan. Signs warning the public to stay away were slapped on posts outside the state secretariat immediately after the order was signed by magistrate Mohamed Ruhizat Abdullah.

Police have also tightened security from as early as 9pm yesterday, setting up metal gates and road dividers at all entry points leading to the building.