Speaker vs Speaker: Judge slapping his own face? - Malaysiakini

By Kim Quek Sep 9, 09 4:55pm

A tragic yet hilarious court proceeding took place in the Ipoh High Court on Sept 8 when the judge blatantly contradicted himself in dismissing a suit brought by Perak's Pakatan Rakyat speaker against the state's Barisan Nasional speaker (yes, two speakers in the Perak assembly).

Judge Azahar Mohamed rejected V Sivakumar's suit to seek damages from R Ganesan for assault and false imprisonment during the chaotic and violent state assembly sitting on May 7.

He said the court had no jurisdiction to hear the case due to Federal Constitution Article 72 stipulating that "the validity of any proceeding in any state assembly cannot be questioned in any court".

And yet in the same breath he declared that "the decision of the legislative assembly to remove the plaintiff as speaker and to appoint the defendant was conclusive and had been fairly determined by the state assembly on May 7, 2009."

Now, the crux of the entire contention between the two speakers is: Who is on the right side of law in the violent tussle for the speaker's chair on May 7?

By declaring Ganesan as the rightful speaker, Judge Azahar is in fact making a legal judgment. Is that not a breach of Article 72? How come he has no jurisdiction to hear Sivakumar's grievances but has jurisdiction to judge Ganesan as legal speaker?

Is that not a contradiction of the highest order?

Apart from this atrocious double standard applied by the judge, the main flaw of the judgment is the inability to differentiate between assembly proceeding and criminal behaviour.

What Sivakumar is seeking is redress for the unlawful physical violence inflicted on him. And Article 72 covers only businesses conducted in the assembly - not unlawful and criminal act.

Judge Azahar has therefore wrongly used Article 72 to come to his judgment. To make it very clear that this is the case, I will quote in full the relevant clauses in Article 72 (Clauses 1 & 2) and explain the reasons why.

* Clause 1: The validity of any proceedings in the Legislative Assembly of any State shall not be questioned in any court.

* Clause 2: No body shall be liable to any proceedings in any court in respect of anything said or vote given by him when taking part in proceedings of the Legislative Assembly of any State or of any committee thereof.

Note the operative words "proceedings" in Clause 1 and "anything said or any vote given" in Clause 2. It is abundantly clear what Article 72 refers to are the speeches and resolutions made in the assembly, not any criminal or unlawful act.

Tragedy and comedy

But what happened on May 7 was complete pandemonium and chaos in the assembly hall. There was no chance to conduct any business at all, least of all any resolution passed. In fact, the only business done on that day was the address by the Perak Regent Raja Nazrin Shah.

And how was Sivakumar "replaced" by Ganesan during that pandemonium?

While Sivakumar was sitting in the speaker's chair, hordes of police personnel entered the assembly hall, allegedly on Ganesan's order, and physically lifted, carried, dragged and moved speaker Sivakumar into a room where he was forcibly detained until the assembly sitting was over.

And as soon as Sivakumar was removed from the hall, police personnel escorted Ganesan into the hall and ushered him to the speakers chair, with police personnel making a line to stand guard in front of Ganesan to prevent any assemblymen from reaching the speaker's chair.

The entire tragedy-comedy was stage-managed by the police, and it is therefore more appropriate to say that while Sivakumar was elected by the assembly through a resolution, Ganesan was physically planted into the speaker's chair by the police. And that about sums up what happened on that tragic-hilarious day.

And since Judge Azahar appears to be so respectful of the constitutional principle of separation of power as demonstrated by his professed adherence to Article 72, is it not puzzling that he should have chosen to ignore completely the heinous violation of the doctrine of separation of power when hordes of police personnel invaded the assembly to physically replace one speaker with another?

Is it not another shining example of double standard in the Malaysia Boleh tradition?

After the series of judicial decisions that appear to wantonly trample the constitution and the law following the shameful power grab in Perak, the latest low represented by Azahar's decision makes us wonder how much lower our judiciary can sink into, as many more judicial decisions in the same series are still pending.

Nizar: Sidang DUN Perak tetap diadakan Rabu ini 3 Sept 2009 - MStar

30 Ogos 2009 Oleh G. MANIMARAN

PETALING JAYA: Sidang Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) Perak akan tetap diadakan Rabu ini walaupun disifatkan sebagai tidak sah oleh Speaker diiktiraf Barisan Nasional (BN), kata bekas Menteri Besar, Datuk Seri Ir. Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin.

"Sidang DUN Perak akan diadakan seperti yang telah ditetapkan dan sebagaimana notis yang telah dikeluarkan sebelum ini," kata beliau ketika dihubungi sebentar tadi.

Jelas Nizar, sidang DUN akan tetap diteruskan sebagimana telah dimaklumkan oleh V. Sivakumar "selaku Speaker yang sah" dalam notisnya.

"Sivakumar merupakan Speaker yang sah. (Datuk) Ganesan bukan Speaker," kata beliau yang juga Ahli Parlimen Bukit Gantang dan ADUN Pasir Panjang.

Oleh itu kata Nizar, Ganesan tidak boleh menghalang mana-mana ADUN daripada menghadiri sidang kali ini.

Ketika ditanya kemungkinan akan ada usaha menghalang sidang yang dimaksudkan itu sebagaimana pernah disaksikan 3 Mac lalu, Nizar memberitahu, usaha sedang diambil oleh Sivakumar untuk mengelakkan suasana sedemikian.

"YB Sivakumar sudah memohon kepada mahkamah agar dikeluarkan satu perintah bagi menghalang mana-mana pihak eksekutif daripada mengadakan halangan," katanya.

Permohonan itu telah dibuat baru-baru ini dan diharap keputusan akan diperoleh Selasa ini, katanya lagi.

Semalam, Datuk R. Ganesan, Speaker yang diiktitaf Barisan Nasional (BN) berkata, semua Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (ADUN) Perak tidak perlu menghadiri persidangan dewan yang dipanggil pada Rabu ini kerana arahan yang dikeluarkan adalah daripada sumber tidak sah.

Ganesan menegaskan, tindakan Sivakumar yang juga ADUN Tronoh memanggil sidang itu adalah pelik kerana beliau bukan lagi Speaker.

Menurut Nizar, notis untuk mengadakan sidang DUN perlu dikeluarkan 14 hari sebelum persidangan dan ia "telah diterima lebih awal daripada itu."

Pada Mei lalu, Sivakumar mengeluarkan notis sidang DUN tergempar 11 hari lebih awal sebagaimana sah diperuntukkan undang-undang, Perintah Tetap Dewan Negeri (PT)8(1).

Bagaimanapun ia dihalang dan terpaksa mengadakan sidang di bawah pokok berhampiran DUN.

Sivakumar saman Setiausaha Kerajaan Negeri Perak - MStar

26 Ogos, 2009

IPOH: Anggota Dewan Undangan Negeri kawasan Tronoh V.Sivakumar hari ini memfailkan saman terhadap Setiausaha Kerajaan Negeri Perak Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Hashim untuk menuntut ganti rugi, ganti rugi teruk dan ganti rugi contoh.

Writ saman itu yang difailkan melalui Tetuan Chan & Associates di pejabat Pendaftar Mahkamah Tinggi di sini tengah hari tadi, meminta defendan mengemukakan maklum balas dalam tempoh lapan hari dari tarikh ia difailkan.

Dalam writ saman itu, Sivakumar yang juga bekas Speaker Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) turut memohon injuksi untuk menghalang defendan atau ejen atau pekerja Abdul Rahman daripada menafikannya daripada memasuki dan menggunakan Dewan Negeri atau menghalang plaintif daripada menggunakan pejabat dan menjalankan tugasnya sebagai Speaker DUN.

Beliau turut memohon injuksi untuk mencegah sebarang penyalahgunaan, campur tangan atau pencerobohan daripada pihak defendan atau ejen atau pekerja Abdul Rahman.

Dalam pernyataan tuntutan itu, Sivakumar mendakwa Setiausaha Kerajaan Negeri itu atau pekerja atau ejennya telah menghalang beliau dan anggota DUN daripada menghadiri dan memasuki Dewan Negeri yang terletak di Bangunan Perak Darul Ridzuan pada 3 Mac lepas.

Beliau juga mendakwa tindakan defendan menafikan aksesnya ke Dewan Negeri adalah tidak mematuhi undangundang dan tindakan itu adalah tidak berperlembagaan.

Sivakumar turut mendakwa tindakan defendan bersifat dengki dan bertujuan menyakiti plaintif di mana defendan berpihak kepada Datuk R.Ganesan sebagai Speaker dan menafikan hak plaintif sebagai Speaker yang sah.

ADUN Tronoh itu turut mendakwa defendan sedar atau mengetahui bahawa sebagai kakitangan kerajaan, defendan tidak mempunyai kuasa untuk campur tangan atau menceroboh urusan Dewan Undangan sebagai majlis menggubal undangundang dan tindakan defendan atau pekerja atau ejennya akan menyakiti plaintif.

Sivakumar mendakwa akibat tindakan salah atau penyalahgunaan kuasa defendan, plaintif dilucutkan suatu tempat untuk mengadakan persidangan Dewan Undangan Negeri dan dihalang daripada menjalankan tugas dan tanggungjawabnya sebagai Speaker DUN yang sah.

Dalam butiran penyalahgunaan, Sivakumar mendakwa Abdul Rahman sepatutnya sedar dan tahu bahawa beliau tidak mempunyai kuasa untuk campur tangan dalam hal ehwal Dewan Undangan.

Bekas Speaker itu juga mendakwa defendan menunjukkan sifat berat sebelah dengan memihak kepada Barisan Nasional (BN) sejak 7 Feb lepas selain gagal untuk menjauhkan diri daripada parti politik.

Defendan juga didakwa mengarahkan polis untuk menghalang persidangan Dewan Undangan Negeri dan mesyuarat Jawatankuasa Hak dan Kebebasan selain gagal menjalankan tugasnya selaras dengan perintahperintah am.

Sivakumar juga mendakwa defendan telah bertindak di luar bidang kuasa dan tanggungjawabnya sebagai kakitangan kerajaan dan tidak boleh menuntut perlindungan di bawah Akta Prosiding Kerajaan 1956.

Dalam writ saman itu, Sivakumar mendakwa mengalami mengalami kejutan, kerugian dan kerosakan selain menanggung penghinaan serta perasaan malu di khalayak awam, akibat tindakan Abdul Rahman itu.

Beliau turut menuntut kos dan relief yang difikirkan adil dan saksama oleh mahkamah.BERNAMA

Perak politics sink to new low - Malaysiakini

By Humayun Kabir
Aug 17, 09 6:24pm

Two changes of government within a year in Perak hasn't just caused chaos - it has also resulted in the rival political camps attempting to claim credit for any progress made in the state administration.

Today, their spat centred on which coalition has done more in getting land titles for residents occupying government land in new and planned villages around Taiping.

DAP's Taiping parliamentarian Nga Kor Ming claimed that Barisan Nasional (BN) had hijacked the credit for applications for land titles in Baru Aulong Tambahan new village.

At a press conference outside the Taiping municipal hall, he said the residents from the low-income group had lived there for nearly 30 years without getting land titles from the BN state government.

Nga said he and party colleague Yew Tian Hoe - the Aulong assemblyperson - had worked hard over the past year in getting the 193 residents to submit their application forms to the state government..

Pakatan Rakyat had won control of the state after the general election last March, only to lose it to the BN 10 months later due to defections.

“Now they (BN) want to hijack our labour for their political mileage,” said an angry Nga who is also state party secretary.

He claimed that, about two weeks ago, someone from the land office started distributing 59 copies of Form 5 (for applications) to the villagers.

“He received a call on his mobile phone and immediately stopped distributing the forms to the remaining villagers,” claimed Nga.

“He told the villagers that he had received orders from the Larut Matang district land office to stop issuing the forms and return to the office.”

The angry villagers, together with Nga, later confronted District Officer Mahmud Morshidi at his office. The officer then promised to continue issuing of the forms on Aug 18.

However, the date was abruptly brought forward to today - and the honour of giving the land application forms went to the BN.

Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir was represented at the event by state executive councillor and Kamunting assemblyperson Mohammad Zahir Abdul Khalid, who handed out the forms to 188 villagers from Baru Aulong Tambahan (80 applicants), Air Kuning (31), Batu 14 Trong (26) and Kaki Bukit Jana (51).

Zahir's version of events

Nga further claimed that he was not given due respect as the Taiping MP at the event. He then walked out of the hall to hold the press conference outside.

“BN must not hoodwink the public by switching the date and causing confusion among the poor villagers who are daily wage earners and cannot take leave from work according to the whims and fancies of BN,” he said.

Nga claimed that 50 of the villagers who turned up today were not given the Form 5 applications but were turned away.

At another press conference, Zahir denied that anyone had been turned away.

“It's just that their applications have not yet been approved by the land office and they have to wait for their turn,” said Zahir.

“It was BN which started the ground work for the land titles before the general election and it is now continuing its policy of giving land titles to the landless and squatters. This is all a political game by Pakatan to gain credit for work done by BN.”

Stand off between Perak state secretariat staff and PR members - Star

Jul 27, 2009

IPOH: There was an hour-long stand off in front of the Perak state secretariat building between staff, police and Pakatan Rakyat members who planned to convene their Rights and Privileges Committee against copmplaint of legality of Barisan Nasional Speaker Datuk R. Ganesan.

But at about 11am, the group dispersed after state secretary representative issued a letter stating the meeting was prohibited.

PR members said they would hold the meeting in Syen Hotel instead.