The stage is set for a massive showdown over the Perak assembly emergency sitting today between Pakatan Rakyat and the entire Barisan Nasional-controlled government machinery.

While Pakatan is doing its outmost to milk every bit of authority assembly speaker V Sivakumar has, BN in retaliation is bent on enforcing its wide executive powers.

An unsigned circular by the state secretary service management division was issued yesterday declaring that the state secretariat building, which also houses the state assembly, would be out of bounds to all today.

zambry file suit 020309 zambry pc Despite the state secretary, a civil servant directly under the control of Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir, the latter pleaded ignorance of the circular during a press conference yesterday evening.

Compounding matters further, Perak police chief Zulkefli Abdullah in a statement to Bernama , was also of the opinion that the emergency sitting was invalid without the sultan's consent.

As of last evening, riot police had already stationed themselves around the entrances of the state secretariat building and heavier police presence can be expected later today.

Secretary usurped speaker's powers?

These decisions appear to be hinging upon assembly secretary Abdullah Antong Sabri's press statement on Sunday which elaborated at length on why the sitting was invalid.

Abdullah was unceremoniously suspended late yesterday night by assembly speaker Sivakumar, purportedly for failing to act impartially, and replaced by Misbahul Munir Masduki, the former political secretary to ousted Menteri Besar Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin.

In an immediate reaction, state DAP chair Ngeh Koo Ham had said the police's decision to enforce Abdullah's decision would be setting a dangerous precedence.

"Instead of respecting the decision of the state assembly speaker, the police deemed it fit to obey a low ranking secretary of the state assembly or what we call the clerk of the House.

"We are made the laughing stock of the world where the clerk of the Parliament is greater than the speaker and the laws governing the legislative assembly are interpreted by the clerk of the House rather than the speaker," he said.

v sivakumar and perak state In a separate press conference, Sivakumar had warned that any attempts to thwart the emergency sitting later today would have severe legal ramifications under Section 124 of the Penal Code, which reads:

"Whoever, with the intention of inducing or compelling or attempting to induce or compel a member of Parliament or of any legislative assembly or of any state executive council to exercise or refrain from exercising in any manner the lawful powers of such member, assaults or wrongfully restrains, or attempts wrongfully to restrain, or overawes by means of criminal force, or the show of criminal force, or attempts so to overawe, such member shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to a fine."

Legal battle looming

Other than applying the state apparatus, BN yesterday had also hurriedly tried to seek a court declaration to overturn Sivakumar's decision to suspend Zambry and his six exco members.

zambry file suit 020309 mohd hafarizam Zambry's lawyers, led by Mohd Hafarizam Harun ( photo ), were seen rushing into the Ipoh High Court registry at 4.15pm to beat the 5pm deadline yesterday. They applied for a certificate of urgency and the hearing is now scheduled to be heard at 9am today.

Though this gives the impression that BN is attempting to ensure that it commands the majority in the House, Zambry has not given any indication that he would attend the emergency sitting today, if it at all happens.

Strangely, Zambry has not sought a court declaration that the emergency sitting was invalid, despite him citing the now-suspended assembly secretary's press statement.

Asked about this at a press conference last evening, he said that his legal team would only seek such a declaration "in due course".

During the press conference, Zambry was bombarded with questions, all of which were casually sidestepped, on whether he believed that the speaker was the sole authority to interprete the standing orders and whether his legal actions would set a precedence where the speaker's authority can be questioned.

Increasingly, Pakatan appears to be forcing BN to use whatever at their disposal to ensure that the assembly sitting does not take place, legal or otherwise, to cast the latter in bad light.

VIDEO | 6 mins