Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Bedlam in Perak assembly

Pandemonium broke out Wednesday at the Perak State Assembly when Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen raised a ruckus in the House, accusing Barisan Nasional appointed Speaker R Ganesan of being illegally appointed.

The sitting began peacefully as the state assemblymen took their seats at their respective sections with ousted speaker V Sivakumar sitting at the allotted spot for the Tronoh constituency.

But before Ganesan opened the floor for the Q & A session, Nga Kor Ming (DAP-Pantai Remis) stood to raise a point of order.

Ganesan initially ignored Nga but later relented when former Perak mentri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin told him to respect the proper procedures of the House and allow for assemblymen to raise a point of order.

When he referred to Ganesan as an emcee, saying "Eh, emcee should listen," Nizar momentarily stunned the house.

Nga then alleged that Ganesan was not the legally appointed Speaker of the House, saying that the last appointment was done in 2008 under the PR government's rule.

Shouting spree starts

"Ganesan, you are not the legal Speaker of the House," he said.

Ganesan then swung into action and the former Sungkai assemblyman interrupted Nga, telling him to sit down.

"YB Pantai Remis, sit down. The appointment of the Speaker was done on May 7 following the proper Standing Orders of the Dewan. Sit down," he said.

His words were drowned out by loud shouts from the floor as PR representatives stood, holding up the Standing Orders booklet and printed signs with the words "The World is Watching", "Penyamun" and "Pencuri".

The shouting spree continued for about ten minutes but Ganesan chose to ignore the PR lawmakers, and continued to call Question Time to order.

courtesy of Malaysian Mirror

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