IPOH, Oct 26 – The appointment of sergeants-at-arms for the state assembly is the prerogative of the Speaker, Perak Speaker Datuk R. Ganesan said in response to complaints that the post is now filled by 15 “samsengs”.
He said today that as the state Speaker, he had every right to appoint new sergeants-at-arms for the assembly hall, to ensure that proceedings ran smoothly and without any hiccups.
“It is within the power of the Speaker. I need to ensure that the assembly runs in an orderly manner and that democracy and the dignity of the House are upheld at all times,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
Pakatan Rakyat (PR) assemblymen claimed yesterday that all the sergeant-at-arms of the Perak state assembly had been replaced with 15 new ones, supposedly “samsengs from Umno’s Pekida”.
On whether the 15 were “samsengs” from Pekida however, Ganesan laughed and said: “Those are all speculation. Anyway, appointing the sergeant-at-arms is the right of the Speaker.”
PR assemblymen have claimed that their feared their safety as “reliable sources” inside the State Secretariat revealed that the ruling Barisan Nasional administration had malicious plans in store for them in the Oct 28 sitting.
They claimed the “samsengs” was there to exert violence upon the PR representatives, if they caused any trouble or disturbances during the assembly proceedings.
“We have the past experience of the Opposition assaulting and disrupting the assembly sitting.
“Hence, it is the duty of the Speaker to do whatever is necessary to run this sitting in an orderly and dignified manner.
“I will strictly adhere to the Standing Orders,” said Ganesan.
He also did not deny that he would restrict assemblymen from bringing equipment with video recording capabilities into the assembly hall and stop them from entering the hall before the sitting commenced at 10am.
“You tell me, in any Parliament, are elected representatives allowed to bring in video recorders top record what they are doing there? No, isn’t it?” he said.
He added that there was no reason why the assemblymen needed to enter into the hall before the sitting began.
“The previous sittings were different. It is true that usually the assemblymen would come into the hall before the sitting commences but this is a different situation.
“We saw how they behaved in the previous sitting (May 7) so we have to take necessary precautions,” he said.
After all, Ganesan added, the strict measures were only being taken because PR assemblymen had “already said they planned to cause trouble during the sitting.”
“They said they would cause trouble and we do not want this.
“They must know that whatever it is, the decision of the Speaker regarding the affairs of the state assembly is final and binding,” he said.
Meanwhile, The Malaysian Insider also understands that elected representatives are also prohibited from inviting guests, spouses, friends, observers, MP’s, personal secretaries or any of their assistants to attend the sitting.
Tags issued to each assemblyman are given individual serial numbers in order to prevent the exchange of tags.
Security outside of the State Secretariat itself is also expected to be extremely tight.
In fact, PR assemblymen are so afraid for their own safety that they are even requesting police protection.
Ousted Speaker V. Sivakumar, who was supposed to chair a press conference this evening, decided not to show and sent a representative on his behalf.
It is believed that this was because the Tronoh assemblyman had been advised, for his own safety, against making public appearances for the time being.
Perak police chief Datuk Pahlawan Deputy Comm Zulkifli Abdullah said that the police would not offer 24-hour protection to all the PR assemblymen.
“We cannot be doing that, of course. However, it goes without saying that we will protect all assemblymen from harm, if there is a need,” he said.
He advised the PR assemblymen to lodge police reports if they indeed received threats or proof that their safety was threatened.
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