Barisan Nasional appointed Perak state assembly speaker R Ganesan warned that action can be taken against ousted speaker V Sivakumar over the 'hotel assembly' yesterday.

In a phone interview with Malaysiakini , Ganesan said that Sivakumar acted in contempt against the state assembly ( menghina dewan ) and had committed treason against the Sultan.

He said that only the Sultan can call for a sitting of the legislative assembly, after the menteri besar had obtained royal consent.

As the chair of the Rights and Privilege Committee, that was installed on May 7, Ganesan said he would be looking into the alleged offences committed by Sivakumar.

r ganesan 130509 "As an ex-speaker, he should know the powers of the committee very well," said Ganesan ( left ), but declined to reveal more on possible actions against Sivakumar or when it will be taken.

Yesterday, Sivakumar convened the state assembly sitting at the Heritage Hotel where a motion was passed, endorsing Pakatan's Rights and Privileges Committee recommendation for penalties against Ganesan and Barisan Nasional friendly independent Hee Yit Foong.

Pakatan's committee, appointed last year, had decided in July that Ganesan and Hee had committed grave offences against the house during the May 7 sitting and ought to be sentenced to a six-month jail term and a fine of RM500,000 each.

'Sivakumar's madness'

Ganesan refused to comment about the motion that was passed at the 'hotel assembly' because the meeting was illegal.

He said that Sivakumar was legally removed as the speaker by 31 BN members against 28 Pakatan members during the May 7 assembly and the new opposition must accept that in a democracy, the majority rules.

penanti by election pakatan leaders ceramah sivakumar nik aziz anwar tian chua 280509 04 "To still claim that he (Sivakumar) is the speaker is madness... They know this very well but they still want to mislead the public," said Ganesan.

He advised Pakatan to stop pretending to be the legitimate government and they should be spending their time serving their voters and behaving like responsible political parties.

"Currently, they are making the lives of Perak citizen very difficult. Under (Menteri Besar) Zambry (Abdul Kadir), the state is doing very well. There is a lot of development.

"I think Pakatan is worried about the shift (of public support), so they are creating issues to keep themselves going," said Ganesan.