Pakatan Rakyat representatives have cried foul over not being informed on the duration of the state assembly sitting, seeing it as a ploy to hamper their campaign in the Sarawak election.

NONE The state legislative assembly sitting was opened by the Raja Muda of Perak, Raja Nazrin Shah today and it is expected to meet until Thursday.

Sitiawan assemblyperson Ngeh Koo Ham complained that despite having contacted Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir for information on the length of the sitting, there has not been any response.

“Until today we don’t know how long we are sitting for... we didn’t even know about tomorrow’s sitting until we received the order paper today,” said Ngeh.

“The media people are more aware about how long it’s going to go on compared to us."

NONE The Perak Pakatan deputy chief was furious that the sitting, which was originally slotted for April 5 but was postponed to today, had interfered with the opposition’s campaign in the Sarawak polls.

Tronoh assemblyperson V Sivakumar ( right ) criticised BN-appointed speaker  R Ganesan for not providing written answers to questions posed during the assembly sitting last November.

In the last sitting for 2010, the state Budget had been 'bulldozed through' without a debate in less than an hour.

“We don’t recognise him (Ganesan) as the speaker otherwise we would have raised a motion of contempt against him,” said Ngeh.

‘Remove restrictions on journalists’

Ngeh also urged the state government to remove its regulations barring journalists from entering the assembly.

NONE “A reporter had complained to me that it is like being a prostitute in a showcase,” said Ngeh as the media are only allowed to watch the proceedings from the public gallery behind tinted glass panels.

“While we are speaking (during debates) the speaker switches off the microphones at his whim and fancy so that it is not recorded in the Hansard... so much so that when I get my speech I don’t understand it,” he said.