By Clara Chooi
IPOH, Oct 27 – Lines have been drawn and the battlefield has been prepared for tomorrow’s Perak state assembly sitting.
It is obvious, however, that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) assemblymen will be walking into this fight as the underdogs.
From extremely tight security measures to the sudden change of assembly procedures, Barisan Nasional (BN) seems dead set on ensuring the PR exits this battle with their tails between their legs.
In a press conference here this evening, BN’s Speaker Datuk R. Ganesan drew shocked looks from pressmen when he revealed that not only would assemblymen be prohibited from making calls, sending SMSes, surfing the web or sending emails during the sitting but they would also be given a specific time to enter the assembly hall.
PR assemblymen, he said, would be the last to be allowed into the hall, as well as to enter the State Secretariat itself.
Government officials, members of the media and other guests would be allowed into the hall at 9.30am.
BN assemblymen, said Ganesan, would be allowed to enter into the hall anytime before 9.55am, five minutes before the assembly is due to commence at 10am.
PR assemblymen, on the other hand, would be the last into the hall, after 9.55am.
This means that the 28 PR assemblymen would have a total of five minutes to take to their seats and ready themselves for the sitting.
When asked for the rationale behind the change of procedures, Ganesan said:
“The procedures and the agenda of the sitting can always be altered, isn’t it? Standing Orders 13 (2) says this isn’t it?” he said.
He added that during the May 7 sitting, when all lawmakers were allowed into the hall at the same time, the PR assemblymen had grabbed on to the “government” side of the hall, on the right side of the Speaker.
“Conventionally, that is where the government of the day sits,” he said.
When asked what time he planned to enter the hall, Ganesan grinned and replied: “Why is that important? You will know tomorrow.”
It is widely speculated that Ganesan’s archrival, Tronoh assemblyman V. Sivakumar, may attempt to climb onto the Speaker’s chair the moment he enter the hall tomorrow.
“Who is Sivakumar? He is just the Tronoh assemblyman,” he said.
Ganesan also confidently denied that he had hired police personnel to work as sergeant-at-arms or assembly officials.
During the last assembly sitting, policemen were believed to have been given passes to enter the assembly sitting.
“No. They are government servants who have worked in the security field,” he said.
He admitted that he had hired new sergeant-at-arms, nine of them, as well as a number of assembly officials, but stressed that the purpose was to safeguard the security of the state government administrators.
“Look at what happened at May 7. The PR assemblymen were the ones who crossed the line. They attacked and assaulted the BN assemblymen and the sergeant-at-arms. They also attacked Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir.
“I need to protect the BN assemblymen from being attacked, too,” he alleged.
Ganesan also scoffed at PR’s claims that 15 new sergeants-at-arms had been hired to attack the PR lawmakers if they caused trouble during the sitting.
“Sivakumar got his numbers wrong. The number is not 15, it is more,” he said, indicating that the total included the assembly officials.
He insisted that those who were hired were “government servants”, when he was repeatedly asked to assure that there would be no police presence inside the hall.
When told that police officers were also government servants, Ganesan said:
“Ipoh City Council staff are also government servants, aren’t they?”
The Malaysian Insider understands that some of those hired as assembly workers to assist the sergeants-at-arms would be enforcement officials working in the city council.
Ganesan said that he had little choice in the matter and had to enforce such strict rules to ensure that the assembly proceedings ran smoothly and without any hiccups.
“We are restricting them from recording anything or sending out messages and emails because we do not want any false accusations to be made during the assembly,” he said.
After the May 7 sitting, PR assemblymen released videos of the session, which the BN claimed were footages that conveniently failed to show the true violence that the Opposition had exerted in the hall.
“They caused havoc and destroyed assembly property. More than 10 microphones were broken,” said Ganesan.
As such, to ensure that no stones were left unturned, Ganesan said that he had also instructed State Secretary Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Hashim to install video cameras and a variety of recording equipment inside the assembly hall.
“This is to record every movement made by the state assemblymen,” Ganesan warned.
He added that it would also allow the assembly officials to record the happenings in the hall on Hansard easily.
Meanwhile, the State Secretariat is crawling with police personnel.
At every corner, The Malaysian Insider noticed the significant dark blue uniforms of the security forces strolling along the corridors of the building.
Police trucks and cars have also been seen frequently moving in and out of the government administrative building throughout the past few days.
The Malaysian Insider was told from secretariat staff that the police had allegedly also fixed listening posts along the gates of the building, in order to pick up the conversations outside the hall.
The posts are apparently placed at the back entrance of the building, which faces Medan Istana and the Perak DAP office. The location is where most of the action takes place outside the secretariat.
When checked, The Malaysian Insider noticed two odd-looking gadgets on long poles being erected along the gates, just next to the guardhouse.
The gadgets were two-pronged and resembled microphones. A large white police van has been parked next to the gadget in the secretariat over the past few days.
Several workers, some of whom were wearing shirts with the Royal Malaysian Police insignia on it, were seen busy moving about with wires and installing the posts.
A camera, fitted on another long pole, has also been erected along the entrance.
Wires from all the three poles were linked to two satellite dishes, placed just outside the guardhouse.
When some workers were questioned, they merely acknowledged that there was a camera being installed. They refused to answer questions about the strange gadgets or the satellite dishes.
Despite their refusal to release information, it is clear that the new strange devices were all a part of the stage set-up for tomorrow’s sitting.
How chaotic it would be is left to be seen for, despite all their bravado, The Malaysian Insider understands that some PR assemblymen are truly afraid for their personal safety during the sitting.
Besides that, some are also tired of the long-drawn battle that they have been fighting and are just about ready to lay down arms and kill their battle cries.
“We are tired too. Some of us feel that it is time to wait for the next general elections,” one assemblyman admitted to The Malaysian Insider.
Those in the higher echelons of PR however, seem determined to press on. Amongst these are former government administrators like Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham, Nga Kor Ming and Sivakumar himself.
Over the past few weeks, their cries of injustice have been echoed even louder across the state through countless ceramahs, dinners and large-scale PR functions.
How much longer they plan to lock swords with the BN however, is hard to say. And perhaps tomorrow’s sitting may just be the very determinant to show just how far the PR would go to champion their cause.
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
