Perak exco accuses Speaker of abuse of power, files complaint

Perak executive councillor Mohd Zahir Abdul Khalid has referred state assembly Speaker V Sivakumar to the Rights and Privileges Committee.

A notice was served to Sivakumar’s political secretary this morning, accusing the Speaker of abusing his power to commit contempt by showing disloyalty to the Perak Sultan under Article 47 of the state constitution.

Zahir, who is also Kamunting MP, told reporters his complaint centred around Sivakumar’s decision to suspend BN Menteri Besar Zambry Kadir and six executive councillors, including himself on Feb 18.

Trying to block Tuesday’s sitting

Sivakumar has called for an emergency sitting of the state assembly on Tuesday to vote on two motions. One is a vote of confidence in PAS leader Nizar Jamaluddin as Menteri Besar and the other is to call for a dissolution of the state assembly.

Umno-BN is trying all ways and means to fend off this development, which could see the reinstatement of the Pakatan state government.

PAS vice-president Husam Musa has said Umno-BN would do better to seek a dissolution of the assembly rather than resort to cheating to cling to power.

Deputy Premier Najib Abdul Razak, the incoming Umno president, and his party should not fear fresh state-wide polls even if they were not confident of winning, he sadded.

Stressing that there were three options open to Umno, Husam said: “The first is to dissolve the assembly, the second is to detain Pakatan Rakyat leaders involved under the Internal Security Act and the third is to place Perak under a National Operations Council.

“However, I think if Pakatan leaders are detained under the ISA, their profile would be even higher and if the state is placed under a National Operations Council, the government’s image would be tarnished. Dissolution is the only option.”

-SuaraKeadilan