Goons At The Perak State assembly

The Malaysian Insider
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Democracy and rule of law in jeopardy in Perak — Param Cumaraswamy

MAY 8 — On March 4, I appealed to His Royal Highness the Sultan of Perak to dissolve the State Legislative Assembly to avoid the crisis there leading to anarchy. Indeed what happened in the State Legislative Assembly yesterday was anarchy. I have never seen or heard of such chaos in any legislature in the world.
That such commotion could occur in a state where the Ruler was once the Lord President of the Supreme Court is beyond belief. As I said previously he could have averted all these if he had dissolved the Legislative Assembly on Feb. 5, and left it to the rakyat to elect a new government in accordance with the fundamentals of democracy.
Rulers must not only be above politics but must be seen to be so.
Lawyers will continue debating the validity of appointments and removals of the mentri besar and the Speaker and the crude manner in which V. Sivakumar was removed. They will continue to debate on the validity of motions adopted yesterday and at the previous meeting under the tree.
Each will have an interpretation of the applicable provisions of the constitution and by-laws. As I said on March 4, this is not the time to look into the technicalities and strict interpretation of the law, constitution and by-laws.
That one disputed Speaker could call in the police to assist the sergeant-at-arms to remove the other Speaker who was indeed removed forcibly did not speak well of the calibre of these state representatives. Procedural fairness was thrown overboard in the assembly yesterday.
The Perak Regent Raja Nazrin Shah’s presence there and his delivery of the royal address may not be seen as the Ruler being above politics.
What is most disconcerting is all these happened when there was pending before the High Court an application to determine who is the rightful mentri besar! Why the unholy haste to summon the Legislative Assembly?
The state constitution does not expressly provide that if the assembly is not convened within six months since the last session the assembly is automatically dissolved. What happens if on Monday the High Court declares that the rightful mentri besar is Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin?
On the other hand if the court finds that Datuk Mohd Zambry Abd Kadir’s appointment was valid the public perception would be that the events of yesterday pre-empted the decision of the court. The independence and impartiality of the court would be called into question.
The ugly events of yesterday clearly show that there can never be an orderly and stable government in Perak unless the Legislative Assembly is dissolved and fresh elections held. I therefore urge Sultan Azlan Shah to exercise his discretionary power under Article 36(2) of the state constitution and dissolve the Legislative Assembly.
More than anybody else he should know better the finer principles of democracy and its values for a state under a just rule of law.
Datuk Param Cumaraswamy is the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers.

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written by S.S.Seelan, May 08, 2009

Today, I am away in Beijing for a short holiday with my family.
The peace and tranquility of the last couple of days were broken by several mms which I received from some well-intentioned friends showing the crude and appalling manner in which a sitting Speaker was removed by the state apparatus.

I immediately logged on to the net and I just could not believe what I read and saw about what is now being dubbed as " One helluva Black Malaysia".
My heart bled.. no ! not for Mr Sivakumar but for the death of democracy in my beloved Malaysia!
Now how do I respond when Malaysia becomes the butt of jokes among my friends in Singapore, India, Sri Lanka and England.
One associate from Singapore had already inquired rather sheepishly ( and with a tinge of sarcasm ) as to whether we have a cloned State Assembly from Taiwan and whether our Perak State Assembly are in anyway related to the Taiwanese!
For years I have been taking the mickey out of my Singaporean friends and I never thought that they would come a day that they would turn the tables on me! How strange!

Many constitutional lawyers ( except Datuk Shafee Abdullah, of course) have voiced their utter shock and dismay by the recent Federal Court decision which appear to fly in the face of at least 5 other previous Federal Court decisions including that of Fan Yew Teng and Lim Cho Hock. Some of my friends never tire to tell me that the Federal Court decided in the way it did recently because Fan Yew Teng and Lim Cho Hock were then DAP stalwarts whereas Datuk Zambry is from BN.
But I always thought political inclinations were never a factor when a particular case was decided by our Courts! You mean I was wrong all these time ah? How strange!

But what is even more mind-boggling is the fact that this political imbroglio is taking place in the State where HRH Sultan is a former Lord President. I also read somewhere recently that he reminded the rakyat that the Royalty are neither blind, deaf or mute. Well, what is he waiting for then? Cant he see, hear and feel the pulse of the rakyat calling for a dissolution of the State Assembly? How strange?

Then I hear that the BN governmentt is going to release shortly some of the ISA detainees including those from Hindraf . When questioned, our beloved PM had stated quite categorically that it was not meant to divert the peoples attention from the political mess engineered by the BN on May 7th.
My question is this: would you believe if I said that my mum is a virgin? You mean you don't? How strange!

The TPM ( yes yes I am referring to the guy who back-stabbed Ab Badawi ) justifies their release by saying something to the effect that they have all repented and voila! they are no longer a threat to national security!
I am now convinced that those guys in Guantanamo Bay can learn a thing or two from our super super Special Branch! Strange?

ssseelan.blogspot.com