Perak Pakatan Rakyat state assemblypersons staged a walkout after speaker R Ganesan repeatedly ignored their requests to raise point of order.

NONE Speaking to reporters later, Pasir Panjang representative Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin said Ganesan’s action was disrespectful to the House.

"We repeatedly asked for the Standing Orders to be respected. Instead, Ganesan and Barisan Nasional prostituted and sodomised (the rules)," said Nizar with an unusually strong choice of words.

"The Standing Orders were ignored and not used as a guide for the sitting.”

Nizar said Pakatan members had tried in vain to exercise their right as state assemblypersons and that the speaker should have allowed them to do so.

During the sitting this morning, Pantai Remis representative Nga Kor Ming attempted to raise Standing Orders 3, 4 and 6 to challenge the legitimacy of Ganesan as speaker.

He said the Standing Orders state that the election of a new speaker can only occur should there be a vacancy and that a vote must be done through balloting.

r ganesan 130509 Before Nga could finish reading from the Standing Orders, however, Ganesan (left) retorted that his election on May 7 last year was legal and ordered Nga to sit down.

Ganesan then switched off Nga's microphone and proceeded with the Question session. This enraged the Pakatan bench, which interjected in vain.

Nizar also criticised Ganesan for not allowing the debate the motion of thanks on the royal address immediately after the Question session, in accordance with the Standing Orders and Commonwealth parliamentary convention.

Instead, Ganesan had called for the tabling of several Bills. Only when this was concluded did Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir move a motion of thanks on the royal address.

By then, the Pakatan members had walked out of the chamber and were holding a press conference, leaving the BN members to debate among themselves.

Before the Bills were tabled, ousted speaker V Sivakumar had stood up, waving a copy of the Standing Orders while shouting "Tribute! tribute!", in reference to Standing Order 13.

‘Rules flouted’

Standing Order 13 states that the order of the proceedings cannot be changed unless directed through a vote by the assembly members. A motion to change the order was put forth after the Pakatan walkout.

NONE According to the Order Paper issued by Ganesan, the tabling of Bills was placed before the motion of thanks on the royal address.

Sivakumar told the press conference that Zambry's decision to move a motion to change the order of business showed that Pakatan's protest was valid.

"They did this only after we walked out, but when we protested, they ignored us. It is clear that they don't want to follow the rules and they are in contempt of the House," said Sivakumar.

"I dare to say that the Perak state legislative assembly is completely dysfunctional."