6 theSun | WEDNESDAY MARCH 4 2009

news without borders

Supporters urged
Court bars Speaker from to remain calm
» From Front Page

convening unlawful sittings
IPOH: The High Court here yester-
day issued an order restraining Perak
State Legislative Assembly Speaker
V. Sivakumar from convening any
unlawful sitting.
The order was issued by Judicial
Commissioner Ridwan Ibrahim after
hearing arguments in chambers from
a team of seven lawyers represent-
ing Mentri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry
Abdul Kadir and the six State Execu-
tive Councillors, led by Firoz Husain
Ahmad Jamaluddin.
Firoz told reporters later that the
restraining order did not have a time
limit.
Earlier, Ridwan had ruled that
five lawyers had no legal standing to
represent Sivakumar as he is a state
government official and can only be
represented by either the Attorney-
General’s Chambers or the state legal
adviser.
He ruled that as such, the five
lawyers engaged by Sivakumar had
no locus standi to represent him in
an application by Perak Mentri Be-
sar Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir,
who is seeking a declaration that
Sivakumar’s decision to suspend
him and his executive council was
unconstitutional and unlawful.
Ridwan made the decision in his
chambers after hearing submissions
from both Sivakumar’s leading coun-
sel Tommy Thomas and Zambry’s
lawyer Datuk Mohd Hafarizam
Harun.
Sivakumar had been represented
by five lawyers consisting of Tho-
mas, Philip Koh Tong Ngee, Chan
Kok Keong, Augustine Anthony and
Leong Cheok Keng for the suit
while Zambry was represented
by a team of seven lawyers
headed by Firoz Hussein.
The others were Hafarizam,
who is also Umno legal adviser,
Abu Bakar As Sidek, Cheng
Mai, Badrul Hishah Abdul
Wahab, Faizul Hilmy Ahmad
Zamri and Zaireen Zainal.
Following Ridwan’s deci-
sion, Thomas recounted what
happened in chambers at a
press conference outside the
court.
He said the judge had
earlier asked that only one
lawyer from each party enter
his chambers, so he (Thomas) went
in on behalf Sivakumar, while Zam-
bry was represented by a counsel
and the state legal adviser.
“An objection was made against
me and my team, saying that we
had no locus standi to represent the
Speaker.
“Their argument was that the
Speaker was part of the (state)
government and only the Attorney-
General’s Chambers and the state
legal adviser under the Government
Proceedings Act can appoint lawyers
and they normally appoint them-
selves.”
“As they have not appointed any
of our five members of the Bar who
are here, we have no locus standi
to represent the defendant i.e. the
Speaker,” he said.
Thomas said he argued that in
this case, when they talk about the
government it did not mean all the
three branches of
the
government – “as the three branches
are fighting with each other”.
“The submissions took half an
hour and the judge ruled against us
saying that we had no locus standi
and therefore we cannot defend the
Speaker who can only be represented
by the state legal adviser.”
He said when he asked if he could
sit in and hold a watching brief with
speaking rights, Ridwan ruled that
no speaking rights would be granted
but he could hold a watching brief.
“At that stage, I said there is no
point in me sitting in chambers with-
out speaking rights and therefore I
withdrew from the chambers,” said
Thomas.
Asked if there would be a conflict
of interest if the Speaker is represent-
ed by the state legal officer, Thomas
replied affirmatively.
Zambry and his six executive
councillors are seeking a
declaration from the court
that the Speaker’s decision
to suspend and prohibit his
team of executive council-
lors from the state legisla-
tive assembly, is null and
void.
political, economic and social stability in the state. “So
we are crying from the bottom of the hearts of the Perak
people to get Tuanku to listen to their voices and get it
dissolved,” he said.
He urged PR supporters to remain calm and said the
speaker will propose action under Section 124 of the
Penal Code be taken against the police and state secre-
tary Abdul Rahman for obstructing assemblymen from
entering the assembly.
At about 11.30am, when the group was leaving in
their cars, some people began throwing stones, eggs and
ashtrays at them and showed obscene gestures at the
supporters.
Several scuffles took place but PR security volunteers
managed to calm down the agitated supporters.
The PR-appointed executive councillors were es-
corted to their cars and the crowd dispersed peacefully
at noon.
In a press conference at about 4pm, Azisman said
police had acted within the law to maintain order and
prevent intrusion into the state assembly building.
He said no arrests were made and anyone who was
dissatisfied with police action can lodge a report.
Earlier, Taiping assemblyman Nga Kor Ming and
Titi Serong’s Khalil Idham Lim lodged a report at the
Thomas Ipoh district police station against Azisman and Abdul
(right) fields Rahman for obstructing the executive councillors from a
questions sitting at the state assembly.
from
reporters
at the Ipoh
High Court
briefs
premises.
(Below): The
group of Anwar: Dissolve assembly
protesters
who tried to to pave way for fresh polls
prevent PR KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition leader Datuk Seri
assemblymen Anwar Ibrahim said the Perak assembly must be
from entering dissolved to pave way for a fresh state election as
the state the latest development in the state crisis has become
assembly. uncontrollable.
He said there is an attempt to take over the govern-
(Left): Pasir ment by force as the state building has been locked to
Berdamar bar the state assemblymen from entering the building
assemblyman to convene the assembly sitting.
Seah Leong “Our moral strength is that we are ready to face the
Peng is people and let them decide who should be their leaders
turned away and mentri besar. We urge Umno and Barisan Nasional
from the (BN) leaders to act rationally and do not use force to
assembly by complicate the situation in Perak.”
policemen On the validity of the state assembly held at the car
who had park outside the state secretariat complex, Anwar said:
ringed the “What can you do? The Clerk of House can now overrule
building. the Speaker. I want to ask the Parliament Speaker if the
secretary can overrule his decision.

It was an uncivilised act, says

Azalina
KUALA LUMPUR: Tourism Minister Datuk Seri
Azalina Othman Said has described the Perak
State Legislative Assembly’s “emergency sitting”
under a tree as an uncivilised act.
“It is also an insult to the Sultan of Perak, Sultan
Azlan Shah. It’s like resorting to the law of the
jungle,” she said in a statement.
Azalina said there had never been a time in the
country's history when a state assembly sitting was
convened under a tree. – Bernama

‘Transfer’ decision on Friday

by Tan Yi Liang
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court
here will decide on Friday whether
to transfer hearing to the Federal
Court Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar
Jamaluddin’s challenge against Datuk
Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir’s appointment
as Perak mentri besar.
Senior Federal Counsel Datuk
Kamaludin Mat Said, representing the
Attorney-General’s Chambers, had
made the application under Article
63 of the Perak State Constitution, on
the grounds that it would settle the
matter “once and for all”.
In his submissions before Justice
Lau Bee Lan, Kamaludin argued that
the case was of sufficient importance,
and that Article 63 allowed for matters
of constitutional dispute to be brought
before the Federal Court, as well as
Section 84 of the Courts of Judicature
Act (CJA).
“Reference can also be made to
the Federal Court on the construction
of the 13 different constitutions of
the 13 states,” he said, adding that
the term “constitution” in Section
84 does not refer only to the Federal
Constitution.
He submitted that Section 84 of
the CJA is not limited in meaning to
the Federal Constitution as it covers
the state constitutions based on the
Interpretation Act.
“If we limit the scope only to the
Federal Constitution, it would end up
in absurdity as the other constitutions
of the respective states in Malaysia
also have a constitutional provision
which empowers the Federal Court
to interpret,” he said.
He argued that since the dispute
concerned the powers of dismissal
and appointment of a mentri besar
under Article 16(6) of the Perak
State Constitution, the matter was a
constitutional conflict, and should be
brought straight to the Federal Court
under Article 63.
However, the application was
challenged by Nizar’s lead counsel
Sulaiman Abdullah, who contended
that the “constitution” referred to in
the Act referred only to the Federal
Constitution and excluded disputes
about state constitutions.
Sulaiman pointed out that the At-
torney-General’s Chambers is not a
direct party in the case and its role
was only that of a “filter” for frivolous
and vexatious applications. He said
the sole question at the leave stage
was whether the applicant satisfies
the minimum threshold requirements
for the court to hear the case.
“The Attorney-General’s Chambers
may send a representative to assist
the court on the issue of whether to
grant leave or not. They are not a party
to the proceedings,” he said, remind-
ing the court it was an ex-parte ap-
plication by Nizar, who has no desire
to bring the case to the Federal Court
at this time.
“Our stand is that leave should be
obtained, before the issue of whether
the case can be brought to the Federal
Court can be argued,” said Sulaiman,
who had earlier objected to the
presence of Perak state legal adviser
Datuk Ahmad Kamal Mohd Shahid
appearing for Zambry in the case.
Earlier, in yesterday’s proceedings,
Kamal had tried to introduce himself
to the court as counsel representing
Zambry, but Sulaiman had blocked his
attempts to address the court, calling
him a “purported counsel”.
“The state legal adviser has no
locus standi (standing) in the proceed-
ing,” said Sulaiman. Lau then reserved
her decision for Friday.