Pomp, pageantry and 'theft' of Perak speaker's robe

First it was the question of who can legally occupy the Perak assembly speaker's post and the numerous cases filed in the courts is testimony of how contentious this speaker versus speaker saga has become.

More colour was added to the legality wrangle with both speakers, BN appointed R Ganesan and ousted Pakatan speaker V Sivakumar, making police reports against each other with Ganesan coming up tops with three police reports lodged.

Now the saga takes a new twist.

Ganesan is demanding for the return of the official state speaker's garb which he alleges Sivakumar took without having the authority to do so.

In the string of police reports against Sivakumar, another report was made at the Sungai Senam police station on Oct 20, this time by BN assembly secretary Zamari Mohd Ramli.

Sivakumar is said to have taken the official speaker's robe without having the authority.

Ganesan was blunt in attacking Sivakumar, alleging that he has `stolen' the official robe when he was ousted from the controversial May 7 assembly sitting.

"The official speaker's robe is the property of the council and the state secretariat and Sivakumar should have returned it when he was removed from the post of the speaker on May 7 assembly sitting but he failed to do so despite various requests from the state secretary," Ganesan explained.

"So, Zamari has lodged a police report against Sivakumar at Sungai Senam police station on Oct 20," he told a press conference yesterday at his office.

"He should be a gentleman and return all the articles that he took from the speaker's office when he vacated from the speaker's office," claimed Ganesan.

"It is the personality and job position of the individual that counts not the attire that he wears. If Sivakumar wears the attire of the menteri besar or that of the Perak sultan it does not mean that he can assume their posts," he argued.

During the infamous May 7 sitting, both Sivakumar and Ganesan had each worn the official robe of assembly speaker.

Sivakumar may be arrested

When a Chinese media reporter told him to stitch a new robe instead of asking for Sivakumar to surrender the robe, Ganesan replied "It is the principle and procedure of the protocol that counts - not stitching another robe."

However, he agreed that he has another robe if in case Sivakumar fails to return the robe in time for the budget assembly sitting on Oct 28.

The main aim of BN in asking for the return of the speaker's robe, apparently, is to prevent Sivakumar from wearing the official robe and creating a disturbance during the sitting.

Ganesan had earlier said that Sivakumar can enter the assembly as an assemblyperson of Tronoh but not as an assembly speaker for which the former is prepared to take counter action to ensure the three-day budget meeting proceeds smoothly without a hitch.

Media speculation is that Sivakumar, who has four police reports lodged against him, may be arrested at the sitting if things get out of hand at the assembly.

Several attempts by Malaysiakini to get Sivakumar's comments failed yesterday as his mobile was switched off and he is protected by several bodyguards against alleged threats to his life from BN supporters.

‘Ganesan is the thief'

However when contacted, state DAP vice-chairman A Sivanesan commented on behalf of Sivakumar.

Sivanesan blasted Ganesan for his allegation that Sivakumar has `stolen' the official speaker's robe.

"Neither Sivakumar nor (ousted Pakatan) Menteri Besar Mohammad Nizar (Jamaluddin) had resigned from their official posts, as such they are officially state speaker and menteri besar respectively until the courts decide otherwise," he reasoned.

"So, there is no necessity for Sivakumar to surrender the robe as demanded by BN," he said.

"It is the other way around when the illegal speaker Ganesan had stolen the speaker's post from Sivakumar!" Sivanesan claimed.

"Every state in the country has a `mono' speaker but Perak is special as it has `stereo' speakers," he said sarcastically.