There is a new twist to the saga of the torn piece of the assembly robe belonging to speaker V Sivakumar. It may now not go under the hammer as Pakatan seems to have a change of heart.

DAP state chief Ngeh Koo Ham said: "We will not auction off the piece of robe but keep it as a historical item to enlighten future generations of Pakatan's struggle to uphold democracy in the state."

"The police did not arrest Sivakumar as the illegal speaker Ganesan had lodged a police report against him for allegedly stealing the speaker's robe.

NONE "It was a BN plot to prevent Sivakumar from attending the assembly sitting on Oct 28," said Ngeh.

"It's civil matter for the courts to decide and is not a criminal case as Ganesan wants it to be."

Sivakumar said: "The torn piece of my speaker's robe is a symbol of the erosion of democracy in the state and I want it to be maintained as a historical item and not sold off as a collector's piece."

His declaration was in sharp contrast to what DAP state secretary Nga Kor Ming had told Malaysiakini yesterday about plans to auction off the item .

On Oct 28, Sivakumar was ambushed by police at the state secretariat basement car park while on his way to attend the state budget sitting.

He claimed that he was manhandled and assaulted by several police personnel and his speaker's robe violently torn off him. Sivakumar, however, managed to salvage a piece of the robe.

He is considering legal action against the police once he has consulted his lawyers.

Eye on the Malay heartland

On another matter, Ngeh revealed that Pakatan aiming to capture the Malay heartland of Umno for the next state election.

He said there are 52 percent Malays in the state while 34 percent are Chinese, 13 percent Indians and while the rest are Orang Asli and others.

"The Malay rural area does not have excess to Internet or the alternative media but is monopolised by Umno's newspaper Utusan Malaysia which gives a negative view of Pakatan.

NONE "So we aim to penetrate this area and educate the Malay population that they are getting a raw deal in terms of economic development when compared to the urban areas," said Ngeh ( right ).

"Also we want to tell them how BN used the police force to terrorise us during the various state assembly sittings after it had grabbed power illegally from us," he added.

Yesterday's inaugural national convention organised by Perak set the pace in the coalition's attempt to capture the heart and minds of the Malay community in the run-up to next state and general election.

Suspicion, fear, mistrust and lack of communications among Pakatan Rakyat partners may be a thing of the past if the meeting yesterday is anything to go by.

The three parties have been weathering some rough storms and tested to the core in light of conflicting public statements which ran contrary to Pakatan's political philosophy.

Pakatan blamed the mainstream media for twisting and distorting the facts so as to cause disharmony and disunity among DAP, PAS and PKR.

The one-day convention involving Pakatan states of Penang, Kelantan and Selangor have come up with 10-point resolution to further enhance unity and solidarity among members.

Among the VIPs who attended were Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Ng, ousted Perak Pakatan Mentri Besar Mohammad, DAP state chief Ngeh Koo Ham and Kelantan Mentri Besar Nik Aziz Nik Mat.