KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 – More parties are weighing in on the legality of the removal of V. Sivakumar from the office of Perak State Assembly Speaker and the election of his replacement, R. Ganesan, the ex-assemblyman for Sungkai, as well as two other motions.
Lawyer and president of the National Human Rights Society (Hakam) Malik Imtiaz Sarwar disagreed with the views of Datuk Hafarizam Harun and Datuk Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who have been quoted as saying the motions passed yesterday were legal.
“I don't agree with the views expressed by Hafarizam and Shafee. I don't see how it can be valid,” Malik Imtiaz told The Malaysian Insider today.
He noted there were too many questions on the procedures that took place inside the assembly chambers, casting doubt on its legality.
“In the first place, the question is how is it that the sitting came to that part where YB Hee took over the proceedings?” he asked, referring to Hee Yit Foong, the Jelapang assemblywoman and deputy speaker.
“If Sivakumar was rightfully there, how could she have taken over?” he added, referring to Hafarizam's explanation which cited Article 36A (1)(b) of the Standing Orders allowing the deputy Speaker to act in place of the Speaker.
Imtiaz said he had heard conflicting versions of yesterday's events, including one that claimed Sivakumar was absent from the chambers at one point during the proceedings.
He also questioned the presence of plainclothes police officers inside the chambers.
“The police have absolutely no power in the assembly chamber,” he said, and referred to the earlier statements made by then Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar and the Inspector General of Police in March after Pakatan Rakyat MP Karpal Singh was roughed up in Parliament.
Syed Hamid and Tan Sri Musa Hassan had both affirmed the police could not interfere in the assembly chambers even if there was a fight and only the sergeant-at-arms had the power to arrest.
“The police acted without authority. They had become in effect agents of a political party rather than an independent enforcer of the law,” said Imtiaz, stressing Sivakumar was still the proper Speaker at that point in time.
While he stresses his views did not mean the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers were absolved from any wrongdoing, he rejected Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir's explanation that the BN had no choice but to call in the police when things got heated.
“They said they had no other choice but that's not true. They could have filed for a court order and cited Sivakumar for contempt of court. They did not do so and resorted to self-help but self-help is not allowed under our legal system,” Imtiaz said, heatedly.
“In fact, that force had to be resorted to – by using the police to forcibly remove Sivakumar from the chamber without basis – it is indication enough that Barisan Nasional did not have a political or legal solution to the difficulty it found itself in.”
He also questioned: “At which point did the assembly begin?”
“If Raja Nazrin's speech was to start off the session how could they conduct any business before that?” he asked.
He highlighted the Raja Muda of Perak as Prince Regent, who was to open the assembly, had entered the chambers only at about 3pm, after the tussle for the Speaker's seat and after three other motions – Ganesan's election as Speaker, new members for a side committee and declaring invalid the previous Pakatan Rakyat-mooted sitting under a tree – were passed in.
Imtiaz also pointed out that the assembly had also flouted other conventions, including not holding the swearing-in for Ganesan to be Speaker. This, he noted, was usually held in another ceremony at another time before the ruler.
“These are the things that give me doubt as to the validity of the motions passed,” said the lawyer who was recently the recipient of an international human rights award.
“Ultimately, there is a stalemate here,” he said, and added if Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was “sincere about 1 Malaysia, he cannot allow the BN to condone such actions.”
For constitutional law lecturer from International Islamic University, Professor Abdul Aziz Bari, “the writing is on the wall”.
Abdul Aziz said he agreed with PR's Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin that yesterday's sitting was “illegal and unconstitutional.”
“As far as I'm concerned, the way they went about to elect the new Speaker is wrong. The Speaker is still Sivakumar,” said the academician.
He noted that the chain of events from February 5 up to yesterday – from the political crossovers of the elected representatives to the court rulings overturning Sivakumar's decisions to suspend the assemblymen – made it, at best, “highly dubious” that yesterday's motions were legal from his point of view.
Like Malik Imtiaz, Bar Council president Ragunath Kesavan agreed the Perak situation had come to a point where there was no way out but for the Sultan of Perak to dissolve the assembly and pave the way for fresh elections to clear the existing mess.
“Our position is that the legal side will not resolve this because every lawyer has a different view,” he told The Malaysian Insider over the phone.
“Personally, I think there are arguments for and against. One point is when is the commencement of the sitting? Another is whether the Speaker has the power to reject the tabling of the motions.” he said.
“But PR is a minority now and BN has a stable majority with 28 plus three independents,” he added.
Ragunath stressed the best way out of the problem was to place the decision in the hands of the voters.
“I don't think in a democracy, to go back to the people so soon after the general elections is a problem, he said.
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You do not have the authority or power to USURP your SPEAKER's authority, especially while he is PRESENT AND ACCOUNTED FOR!
All these BN goons and prositutes are all tainted. They have sold their soul to the devil.
Hee sold it for a new Mercedes and 11 pieces of silver! Now, Perakians should collect and make her pay her bill!
What does BN goons know about Constitutional Rights, or Criminal Procedure Codes? Looks at what they have done to the Federal and State Constitutions!
BN goons are from the jungle, where only BN law applies. Everyone else is nothing, lower than even scum to them. How else do you explain their arrogance and stupidity?
RISE UP AND SPEAK UP, or our rights will be permanently oppressed!
Sad to say, but the events of yesterday has cemented Malaysia is being the new BASKET CASE OF SOUTH EAST ASIA!
Yes, we have sunk that low. Not even Thailand, Phillipines, Indonesia, Vietnam, LAOS, etc. have sunk as low as we have yesterday. Never have their parliamentary democracy been brutalized the way Perak's DUN was! Even Taiwan, South Korea, where passions can get heated and punches thrown, do police interfere with the sacrosanct chambers of their parliamentary institutions!
BN, in their hunger for power at all costs has condemned Malaysia to being no better than police states in the mold of Zimbabwe and Myanmar, etc. and even in those states, there is a "veil" of pretended indifference from the police and other state apparatus.
Not so, here in Malaysia, where the Judiciary, the policy, the MACC, other state controlled tools of oppression are used not to benefit the people, but to oppress the very people these civil servants have taken an oath to serve!
Only in Malaysia that we have perverted our democracy to the extent that the Federal Constitution, state Constitutions and the doctrine of the seperation of powers between the 3 branches of government are now in taters!
Yes, we are in dark, dark days, and the only way out is for BN's actions to be overturned, either in court, or in a general election. BN will do all to preserve its power, as seen in Perak yesterday, so the courts WILL NOT rule against anything that BN wants.
It is my prediction that if come GE13 and BN is still not in the "hearts and mind" of the RAKYAT, they will RIG the election to WIN! If this happens, there will be RIOTING in the street, an exodus of the minority population and the utter failure of Malaysia as a union.
The clock is ticking . . . . . the verdict will be in no later than 4 years from now! Make your preparations and have your back up plans ready!