TV PAKATAN RAKYAT

While Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders are saying yesterday’s Perak state assembly sitting held under a tree has made Malaysia a laughing stock, a court order served on the Speaker today suggests it may well have been valid. And if it is valid, that would mean the three motions approved hurriedly by the sweaty state assemblymen while standing by a roadside in Ipoh is also legally binding.

The document served on Sivakumar today reads: “It is hereby ordered that the 1st defendant YB Sivakumar a/l Varatharaju Naidu is restraint from convening any unlawful meetings purporting it to be a meeting of the Perak State Legislative Assembly.” Legal experts say a court order has no retrospective effect and as such the question of whether yesterday’s “under the tree assembly” is valid is still unanswered. BN lawyers may need to seek further relief from the courts to have the “under the tree assembly” declared invalid.

But that will stretch to the limit the question of whether it can be considered a judicial review of assembly proceedings, which is not allowed under the federal constitution. A more significant poser are the three motions approved by the “under the tree assembly”. And probably the most significant of the three is the endorsement of Sivakumar’s decision earlier to suspend de facto Menteri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir and his executive council members from the assembly for between 12 and 18 months.