Perak BN speaker R Ganesan has shot down Pakatan Rakyat’s proposal for a five-day assembly sitting and said he would only entertain questions from seven Pakatan state representatives who had emailed them directly to him.

The rest of the 21 Pakatan representatives who had sent their questions to the assembly secretary through ousted Pakatan speaker V Sivakumar will be rejected as they have failed to respect his position as speaker.

With that, the hours spent by Pakatan assemblypersons in preparing their three oral and five written questions allocated to each elected representatives has now gone to waste.

NONE Ganesan also dismissed the Pakatan proposal of extending the one-day debate to five days, and argued that assembly members who are in the minority must always respect the wishes of the majority.

Both BN and Pakatan have 28 elected representatives each, while three independents are considered as pro-BN.

As to DAP Perak chief Ngeh Koo Ham’s suggestion that Ganesan ( right ) will only be recognised as a moderator by Pakatan, he shot back, “Who are they to determine my status? How can a moderator sit on the assembly speaker’s chair?” he asked.

BN is sticking to its stand that a two-day assembly sitting is sufficient and Ganesan said the sitting could be extended another day if the political climate inside the House is conducive.

raja nazrin roundtable 030407 prince speaks Perak Regent Raja Nazrin Shah ( right ) will officiate the sitting on March 30. The day after has been set aside for the debate on the motion of thanks to the royal speech.

The BN speaker said that he will give every elected member a chance to speak but he warned opposition members to behave themselves in the House or otherwise his iron fist will come hard on them.

Last night, ousted Pakatan menteri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin told a media conference that the 28 Pakatan elected representatives had sent 216 questions directly to the state secretariat through Sivakumar.

Pakatan has also mooted a five-day assembly sitting to allow extensive debate on pressing issues affecting the rakyat, instead of the two days allotted by BN.

Nizar wants to meet with Zambry

NONE According to Nizar, Pakatan has faxed two letters to both BN Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir and Ganesan inviting both of them to meet on Monday to discuss the smooth sitting of the assembly.

Ngeh said the dialogue session was necessary to ensure that both Pakatan and BN elected representatives will have equal time to debate during the question-and-answer session.

Pakatan is pressing for a few extra days to debate the issues raised by the opposition.

Zambry, who was with Ganesan at the media conference in the Menteri Besar’s official residence this afternoon, lambasted the opposition for setting pre-conditions to attend the assembly sitting.

NONE He said he was irritated by the constant political stunts from Pakatan and told them not to live in a dream world but be realistic in facing political facts.

Zambry also made it crystal clear that he and Ganesan will not meet the Pakatan representatives on Monday.

“Let them talk whatever they want to. I am not going to play to their political game,” said an angry menteri besar.