Perak speaker V Sivakumar has denied a newspaper report which claimed that he had been informed before a notice was issued for the state assembly to be convened on May 7.

In a faxed statement today, Sivakumar said he was shocked by the report in today’s New Straits Times . Quoting sources, it said the speaker knew of the sitting date and had issued the notice.

perak speaker sivakumar 180409 “This is very embarrassing and defamatory to me as the speaker,” countered Sivakumar, who saw this as another concerted attack on his credibility.

“If the accusation is true, why did the person (the source) not reveal his identity? Why was it only said that the person is close to the Menteri Besar’s Office?”

Sivakumar maintained that he was never officially told of the sitting, until he received a notice on April 17 from state assembly secretary Abdullah Antong Sabri.

However, Sivakumar admitted that he had been told about the May 7 sitting a day earlier by another state assemblyperson.

Speaker to probe incident

Sivakumar said he would conduct a “full investigation” into the false information in the news report.

perak state assembly 180409 The sitting was called by the Barisan Nasional government last week, but Pakatan Rakyat and the speaker have maintained that procedures were not followed.

Although the standing order does not require the state assembly secretary to notify the speaker of an intended sitting, this is a convention practised in many parliamentary systems.

Pakatan is also disputing the validity of the state assembly secretary’s action because he had been suspended indefinitely by Sivakumar early last month for alleged insubordination .

Following this, Abdullah Antong was suspended again last week by Sivakumar for issuing the notice without the speaker’s consent or knowledge.