Thursday, May 7, 2009

Chaotic Perak Assembly Sitting With Two Speakers - Bernama

IPOH, May 7 (Bernama) -- Commotion reigned at the Perak state assembly sitting today after Speaker V. Sivakumar refused to start proceedings for as long as Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, the six Barisan Nasional (BN) executive councillors and three Independent assemblymen were in the House.

Immediately after taking his seat at about 10am, Sivakumar ordered the 10 assemblymen to leave the hall on the basis that they had been suspended.

The commotion that ensued left the Regent of Perak Raja Dr Nazrin Shah waiting in the holding Royal Room, for the official opening of the assembly session.

Zambry and the other nine assemblymen, however, ignored Sivakumar's order.

Former Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammed Nizar Jamaluddin and his former executive council (exco) members remained seated at the seats allocated for the Menteri Besar and exco members, while Zambry and the new exco members were seated on the opposition side.

Zambry then stood and proposed a motion to sack Sivakumar as Speaker, with the 27 BN assemblymen and three Independents raising their hands in support.

But Sivakumar rejected the motion and explained that Zambry could not table the motion as he had been suspended from the assembly.

This caused the assemblymen on both sides of the political divide to hurl insults at each other.

Zambry then proposed the motion again which was supported by the BN and Independent assemblymen.

In response, Sivakumar ordered the House sergeant-at-arms to remove the 10 assemblymen but Zambry said that Sivakumar had been expelled.

At 10.48am, Deputy Speaker Hee Yit Fong then took over to preside over the assembly sitting from the opposition seat.

Zambry then proposed that former Sungkai assemblyman Datuk R. Ganesan be appointed as the new Speaker and the motion was supported by the BN assemblymen and Independents.

The commotion continued with Sivakumar still acting as Speaker.

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