A lone reporter from Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia protested today outside the Penang state assembly premises, saying he was barred from attending the state assemblypersons’ swearing in this morning.

NONE Mohd Firdaus Ismail, 27, stayed outside the gates of the premises holding up a placard stating "Transparency is dead here".

However, state assembly speaker Law Choo Kiang said he did not issue any order to bar reporters from Utusan Malaysia .

The assembly security had likely relied on the ruling of the previous sitting, Law said at a press conference later.

“This is a misunderstanding. We regret he has been barred, but I promise it will not happen again,” said Law.

In 2011 the Penang assembly issued a ruling to bar Utusan reporters from covering the state sittings.

The move had ironically drawn criticism from BN leaders, who called the DAP-led Penang government hypocritical on press freedom.

Earlier, according to Bernama , 40 assemblypersons took their oath of office today at the state legislative assembly.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng led the swearing-in, followed by Deputy Chief Minister I Mohd Rashid Hasnon, Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy, the 10 state executive councillors and the rest of the assemblypersons.

NONE Opposition Leader Jahara Abdul Hamid and the nine other Barisan Nasional (BN) assemblypersons also took their oath of office before the newly elected speaker.

Law (left) , who is the assemblyperson for Bukit Tambun, advised all assemblypersons to do their homework prior to attending the sitting of the assembly next week.

"I hope the assemblypersons will engage in less political debate.

"There are many laws and enactments on which they can debate," he told reporters after the ceremony.

In the 13th general election on May 5, the Pakatan Rakyat won 30 of the 40 seats in the state. The DAP retained its 19 seats, PAS its only seat of Permatang Pasir while PKR won one more seat to secure 10.

Umno won 10 seats for the BN.