In a truly democratic country there is a clear separation of powers among the three branches of governance - the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. They are independent of each other and there cannot be any interference by one on any of the others. This applies at the federal level as well as at the state level.

The events unfolding in Perak seem to show that the BN government has a total disregard for such democratic principles. It has taken over the state government in Perak after enticing three state assembly persons to defect from the Pakatan Rakyat. Although the new BN Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir has been sworn in, his status is still questionable. The former MB Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin has filed a suit in High Court challenging the appointment of Zambry and the case is still pending.

At the end of last week, V Sivakumar, the speaker of the state assembly, announced that an emergency session of the assembly will be held today. Remember, he is the recognised and unchallenged speaker of the state legislature.

It does not matter who is the legitimate menteri besar (the executive) as the workings of the state assembly should not be interfered with. Besides, lawyers have argued that since the state assembly session has not been dissolved or prorogued, the consent of the sultan is not necessary in order to call the emergency sitting.

However, since the announcement of the emergency sitting, the Zambry state government has filed two suits against the speaker. The first suit challenges Sivakumar’s decision to accept the undated resignation letters of the three defecting state assembly persons and the second challenges the decision to suspend Zambry and his six eco members.

Now, what does this looks like? Not only is the executive interfering with the legislative branch of the state government, it is also getting the judiciary to interfere with the state legislative assembly. Other actions taken to prevent the emergency sitting this morning were even more ludicrous.

The state assembly secretary Abdullah Antong sent out a notice declaring that the emergency sitting of the state assembly to be ‘invalid’. But the assembly secretary is supposed to be working under the speaker of the state assembly! Who gave him the authority to send out such a notice?

Bar Council Vice-president, Ragunath Kesavan had this to say, ‘Obviously he is sympathetic to Barisan Nasional. But whether the assembly is convened rightly or wrongly, he does not have the power to say anything. He has to take instructions from his superior, who is the speaker of the assembly’.

A directive had also been issued to lock the state secretariat building in an attempt to prevent the emergency sitting of the state assembly from taking place. Under whose order was this directive given? Nobody knows as the circular which announces that the state secretariat will be closed was unsigned.

The Perak police chief had also issued a statement in which he said the emergency sitting was ‘invalid’ according to the assembly secretary and advised people not to gather at the state secretariat building. The police chief is now acting according to the assembly secretary’s notice instead of the speaker’s announcement? Bewildering.

According to some reports, police roadblocks were erected on Monday evening along the road leading to the state secretariat and FRU trucks were on standby.

Today, when the state assembly persons turned up at the state secretariat they found the police and FRU trucks blocking the main entrance to the state secretariat. The Ipoh OCPD refused to allow anyone to enter. Undeterred, the speaker and the state representatives decided to hold the emergency assembly sitting in a car park under a tree (some people are naming this the ‘Tree of Democracy’ or the ‘Tree of Freedom’).

In this historic state assembly sitting in the open, three motions were tabled and passed unanimously. The first was to express confidence in Mohd Nizar as the menteri besar of Perak, the second a motion to dissolve the state assembly and the third motion is to adopt the decision of the rights and privileges committee to suspend Zambry and his six exco members.

The state assembly is now dissolved which means that state-wide elections will have to be held after the consent of the Sultan of Perak has been obtained. However, undoubtedly, the BN government will try to use all their powers to frustrate the wishes of the Perak people and prevent state-wide elections.

Why are they so afraid to allow the people to decide who their state government should be? It is only to the best interest of Perak and the country that this whole ugly episode of a power-tussle in Perak be brought to an end.

Please, let the people decide.