Royal consent sought for special assembly sitting

Perak state assembly speaker V Sivakumar today said that he will be sending a letter to Sultan Azlan Shah seeking consent for a special state assembly sitting.

The sitting is to determine who actually controls the assembly.

He also said that he will be urging the sultan to postpone the swearing in ceremony of Zambry Abd Kadir as the Barisan Nasional menteri besar today at 3.30pm.

The brief press conference was held at DAP headquarters in Ipoh at 12.30pm. Sivakumar said that the letter will be sent immediately after the press conference.

"To resolve the critical problem in Perak, I have appealed to the sultan to allow a state assembly sitting.

I have also requested the sultan to delay the swearing in ceremony until the sitting of the assembly," he told reporters.

Senior state exco member and state DAP chief Ngeh Koo Ham was also present at the press conference.

"Let the institution of the assembly decide who commands the majority in the house," he said.

He said that the letter to the sultan was to formally inform him on the special sitting.

"State assembly sittings are normally carried out as requested by the speaker," he added.

More defections, the other way

State exco Nga Kor Ming also told reporters that the new BN government would collapse soon - as a result of defections to Pakatan Rakyat.

"According my sources, the BN government is going to collapse anytime soon," he said.

The political situation in Perak has been thrown into turmoil following the defections of four Pakatan state representatives to the BN, giving the latter a simple majority in the state assembly.

With that the BN had approached the sultan, seeking for a transfer of power, which he agreed to. The sultan then asked Pakatan menteri besar Mohd Nizar jamaluddin to resign.

Pakatan meanwhile sought the sultan to dissolve the assembly so that fresh elections can be held.

BN's menteri besar candidate Zamry will be sworn in before the sultan at 3.30pm in Kuala Kangsar. The state exco will be sworn in next Tuesday.

The Pakatan government lasted just 10 months.

MB's house isolated

Meanwhile, the police closed the main road in front of menteri besar's house until 7pm today to prevent any gatherings.

Perak police chief Zulkefli Abdullah said the preventive measure was to avoid public gathering that could disrupt public peace.

He advised motorists to use alternative routes to enter the city and to follow instructions by the police to ensure smooth traffic flow.

The police have also taken full control of the state secretariat. This morning Mohd Nizar and his exco members were forced out of his office.

He said that he was escorted out of his office by the police.