KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) today claimed that ousted Perak Speaker V. Sivakumar was nearly strangled at the state assembly’s parking lot after police tried to take the Speaker’s robe and songkok from him yesterday.
Perak DAP chief Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham called Barisan National (BN) leaders hypocrites after they said that no force was used against PR assemblymen yesterday.
“(Perak Mentri Besar) Zambry and (Defence Minister) Zaid Hamidi are lying when they say that we are creating stories,” he told reporters at a press conference in parliament.
It was learned that PR assemblymen were accosted at the basement parking lot of the State Secretariat by policemen who tried to rip off the Speaker’s ceremonial robes, which former speaker Sivakumar had put on.
According to PR assemblymen, the scuffle was violent and turned into a fist fight as some in the group of 28 attempted to protect Sivakumar from being harassed.
Despite this, however, the robe as well as the Speaker’s songkok were successfully confiscated by the police. Sivakumar only managed to salvage a ripped piece of his robe.
Simpang Pulai assemblyman Chan Ming Kai was dragged on the floor when two policemen grabbed on to both of his hands and tried to pull him away.
Ngeh also called upon Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to take action against the police and those who instructed to manhandle Sivakumar.
“What we saw yesterday in the Perak state assembly, hundreds of police surrounding the place... can only happen where a government is not legitimate, rules by force and not by popular support... like a dictatorship in Myanmar.
“What happened yesterday clearly shows the BN does not have legitimacy and for that I hope they will have some self dignity and call for a fresh election if not it is shameful to continue the rule by might,” he said.
PR state lawmakers were carefully screened first before they were allowed to pass the police blockade yesterday.
No untoward incident took place when they passed the blockade. They acted courteously while their supporters obeyed police instruction to disperse after their leaders were allowed to pass.
“We were stopped at five police checkpoints and at every checkpoint, we were allowed in one by one so imagine 28 people. It seems like it was purposely done so we cannot the reach the hall by 10am.
“After entering the gate (of the state assembly), we were stopped by the police and they wanted to confiscate Sivakumar’s robe and they pushed us to the parking lot so that we cannot be seen and that was where they tried to strangle Sivakumar. He almost chocked to death,” former Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin added.
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