Sivakumar’s actions treacherous towards Sultan, says Zahid
(Bernama) — Former Perak State Assembly Speaker, V. Sivakumar’s donning of the speaker’s robe during the break of the assembly sitting today is a clear act of threachery against the Sultan of Perak.
Defence Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, said this could not be accepted and Sivakumar, the Tronoh assemblyman, did not respect the laws of the state.
“Any Perakian or state assemblyman who wants to hold a meeting in the name of the majority, or in any other circumstance, has to acknowledge that the law gives power to the Sultan to recognise that, so it is clear that Sivakumar has committed treachery towards the Sultan of Perak.
“I think we cannot tolerate any more the actions of Sivakumar and his cronies,” he told reporters in the Parliament lobby here today.
He said the opposition must respect the democratic principles practised in the country that say that the majority forms a government.
During the one-hour break of the state assembly to approve the 2010 state budget the opposition members, who had remained outside the house, entered and started their ‘meeting’
The former speaker, Sivakumar, began the ‘meeting’ with the “doa”.
Buntong assemblyman A. Sivasubramanian, of the DAP, asked Speaker Datuk R. Ganesan to leave the speaker’s seat, claiming he was not qualified to occupy the chair as he continued to practise law three months after having been appointed the speaker.
Ganesan remained in his seat throughout the opposition ‘meeting’ while the Barisan Nasional (BN) ignored the “proceedings” and conversed amongst themselves.
Aside from that, Zahid said the discussions between Umno and Pas need not continue in the name of forming a unity government, instead there should be discussions based on a common interest agenda in an informal manner.
“In the situation now Pas is being split, there are some who agree and some who don’t about a coalition government, the best way is for us to sit and discuss how to come out of the economic slump, how to unite the people,” he said.
