The Perak farce redux
That this Perak State Assembly sitting would be a farce was taken as a given.
After all, the Barisan Nasional-appointed Speaker Datuk R. Ganesan revised the rules that only allowed Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers in five minutes before the assembly apart from bringing in new sergeants-at-arms to ensure peace and order in the state assembly.
And the state assembly building itself bristled with the police armed to the teeth and with a court order to restrain any crowd 50 metres away to ensure public order.
In other words, the men in blue — be it Barisan or the cops — locked down Ipoh for another farcical round of a state assembly sitting, the last being May 7 when Pakatan Speaker V. Sivakumar was dragged out of the speaker's chair and dumped as the Perak Raja Muda, Raja Nazrin Shah, waited patiently to deliver his speech.
Only those who take power illegally would go to such lengths to shore up their legitimacy to rule a state. The last time this was done was when the British locked down Northern Ireland while fighting off the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
Yes, Ipoh now shares something in common with Belfast. Doesn't make it right, though.
Of course, the Pakatan side too continued the farce by holding its simultaneous assembly as both sides played musical chairs for the speaker's seat and power over the civil service, which has blatantly shown it sides with Barisan.
How long can we watch this farce continue between a palace-appointed state government and one popularly elected by the people in Election 2008. Do we have to suffer through more lockdowns in Ipoh and strange rules by a speaker whose validity is still questionable?
Events in Ipoh since the Perak putsch in February have clearly scuttled the well-crafted 1 Malaysia mantra spoken almost daily by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. He might have won the battle for Perak but retaining it in the next general election seems far-fetched now.
Najib recently launched the 1 Malaysia concept in Ipoh, appealing to all Perak folk to accept the Barisan government which he said was legal according to the law courts. All he needs to really do is to get Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir to advise the Perak Ruler to call for snap elections.
Otherwise, his 1 Malaysia. Rakyat First. Performance Now remains a joke spun off to include 1 Toilet in Terengganu, 1 MCA in Kuala Lumpur and 1 World at the Unesco meeting in Paris.
1 Malaysia has become the farce of the moment in Perak with its two mentris besars, two state government, two speakers and two sittings. And both sides are not making it any better.
That this Perak State Assembly sitting would be a farce was taken as a given.
After all, the Barisan Nasional-appointed Speaker Datuk R. Ganesan revised the rules that only allowed Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers in five minutes before the assembly apart from bringing in new sergeants-at-arms to ensure peace and order in the state assembly.
And the state assembly building itself bristled with the police armed to the teeth and with a court order to restrain any crowd 50 metres away to ensure public order.
In other words, the men in blue — be it Barisan or the cops — locked down Ipoh for another farcical round of a state assembly sitting, the last being May 7 when Pakatan Speaker V. Sivakumar was dragged out of the speaker's chair and dumped as the Perak Raja Muda, Raja Nazrin Shah, waited patiently to deliver his speech.
Only those who take power illegally would go to such lengths to shore up their legitimacy to rule a state. The last time this was done was when the British locked down Northern Ireland while fighting off the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
Yes, Ipoh now shares something in common with Belfast. Doesn't make it right, though.
Of course, the Pakatan side too continued the farce by holding its simultaneous assembly as both sides played musical chairs for the speaker's seat and power over the civil service, which has blatantly shown it sides with Barisan.
How long can we watch this farce continue between a palace-appointed state government and one popularly elected by the people in Election 2008. Do we have to suffer through more lockdowns in Ipoh and strange rules by a speaker whose validity is still questionable?
Events in Ipoh since the Perak putsch in February have clearly scuttled the well-crafted 1 Malaysia mantra spoken almost daily by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. He might have won the battle for Perak but retaining it in the next general election seems far-fetched now.
Najib recently launched the 1 Malaysia concept in Ipoh, appealing to all Perak folk to accept the Barisan government which he said was legal according to the law courts. All he needs to really do is to get Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir to advise the Perak Ruler to call for snap elections.
Otherwise, his 1 Malaysia. Rakyat First. Performance Now remains a joke spun off to include 1 Toilet in Terengganu, 1 MCA in Kuala Lumpur and 1 World at the Unesco meeting in Paris.
1 Malaysia has become the farce of the moment in Perak with its two mentris besars, two state government, two speakers and two sittings. And both sides are not making it any better.
28/10/09
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