Sarkis

10.03am: Speaker V. Sivakumar announces that BN-appointed Mentri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir and the six suspended executive councillors from the BN are not allowed into the House. The three independents "friendly to the BN" are also not allowed in. Sivakumar says he won’t start the sitting until all of these assemblymen leave. Shouting in the House.

» 10.05am: Raja Nazrin Shah, who was to open the sitting, is not in the House yet. Sivakumar repeats his announcement that he will not start proceedings until the 10 assemblymen, including Zambry, have left the House. His decision is final, he says. Sivakumar adds that the March 3 sitting under the tree had approved their suspensions. Shouting resumes in the House.

» 10.13am: Pandemonium in chambers. Lots of inaudible shouting. PR assemblymen are thumping the tables. BN assemblymen staying put. Raja Nazrin Shah has yet to give his address to open the sitting. He is not in the House.

» 10.20am: Zambry reads out a motion to remove Sivakumar and all the BN reps raise their hands to vote in support. But Sivakumar maintains he will not convene the sitting until the 10 BN assemblymen, including Zambry, leave the House. Sivakumar says he rejects the motion because Zambry has been suspended. Sivakumar repeats: "My decision is final. As long as the 10 suspended assemblymen do not leave the house, I will not convene this sitting." He shouts the same thing over and over again: "The person who brought this motion has been suspended. Ia usul yang tak sah (It’s an invalid motion)."

» 10.28am: Sivakumar now says: "Saya belum dipecat. Yang dipecat itu Pangkor. (I’ve yet to be stripped of my position. Pangkor is stripped)". Zambry is Pangkor assemblyman. "Saya minta Bentara untuk keluarkan 10 orang ini (I order the sergeant-at-arms to remove the 10 men)," says Sivakumar, referring to the 10 BN assemblymen he has barred from entering the House. Sivakumar continues: "Dalam Dewan, Speaker bagi arahan. Kalau tak faham arahan, keluar saja." (The speaker gives the orders in the House. Just get out if you cannot understand.) He adds: "Saya adalah speaker yang sah (I am the legitimate speaker)." Several assemblymen on both sides are recording the chaos with their mobile phones and camcorders. Someone announces, "The motion to remove the speaker has been passed by 31 assemblymen", at which point all the BN reps and the three independents raise their hands and cheer.

» 10.35am: More shouting as BN elected reps cluster around Jelapang assemblyman Hee Yit Foong, the DAP rep who quit and who is/was also the deputy speaker.

» 10.40am: Sivakumar’s microphone has been turned off. Hee Yit Foong, now a BN-friendly elected representative, declares that the majority of the House has voted Sivakumar out and he should leave. Hee now asks the Bentara (sergeant-at-arms) to remove Sivakumar. BN assemblymen are shouting "Tronoh turun! Tronoh turun!" Sivakumar is the Tronoh assemblyman. In other words, without Sivakumar convening the sitting, BN assemblymen have gone ahead to vote on a motion to remove him as speaker.

» 10.56am: MIC assemblyman Datuk R. Ganesan takes his oath of office as the Perak speaker after the motion was proposed by Zambry and seconded by Hee, and supported by all BN elected representatives and the three independents friendly to the BN. Shouts of protests by PR side.

» 11.05am: BN side is now attempting to have a debate. They are proceeding as if the House is normal. The assemblymen are still clustered around Ganesan, who appears to be seated next to Hee on the left side (by convention, the opposition side) of the speaker’s chair. Sivakumar is still in the speaker’s chair. PR elected reps are shouting "Haram! Haram!" to drown out Ganesan’s voice who is reading a motion. Shouting continues. Ganesan has been given the speaker’s robes. He reads out a motion tabled by Sungai Rapat assemblyman Hamidah Osman, which is voted by the BN and the three independents friendly to the BN. The motion is to change the membership of the three house committees – standing orders, rights and privileges, and public accounts – to put their own BN people in. PR elected reps mostly just standing around or seated. Less shouting from them. Sivakumar is still in the speaker’s chair.

11.15am: Sivakumar makes an announcement holding up a paper but it is unclear what the document is. PR elected reps are re-energised. BN side proposes to adjourn the "sitting" for one hour. The House is "adjourned". BN reps go back to their seats and sit down. PR reps also take their seats and shout at BN to leave the House since they’ve adjourned it. There is peace in the House finally, but both sides refuse to budge from their seats. Sivakumar still in speaker’s chair.

» 11.25am: The paper Sivakumar held up earlier was a letter by him dated yesterday stating his rejection of all the motions submitted to him, which are the motions to remove him, to elect a new speaker and to change the membership of the three committees.

» 11.50am: Zambry’s lawyers in the ongoing MB vs MB court case arrive in the chamber. Among them are Datuk Shafee Abdullah.

» 12.15pm: Umno lawyer Datuk Hafarizam Harun seen conferring with Zambry away from the floor of the chamber.

» 12.20pm: Sivakumar saying something, but his microphone is still off so he cannot be heard. The BN assemblymen shout "Out! Out!" Ten more minutes and House is supposed to reconvene.

» 12.24pm: Ganesan tries to take his "seat" as speaker at the state secretary’s table in the middle of the floor. A few PR elected reps surround him and appear to be persuading him against doing so. Sivakumar is still in the speaker’s chair.

» 12.25pm: Five PR elected reps heckling Ganesan, making an issue of the fact that he is wearing a tag which states "Pegawai". Shouts of "Out! Out!". There is pushing and shoving on the floor among the assemblymen.

» 12.35pm: Some PR reps have walked over to BN side (on the left of the speaker’s chair) heckling Ganesan to get out of the House. Sivakumar from the speaker’s chair also asks Ganesan to leave. Among the things said by PR assemblymen to Ganesan are: "Please lah, leave. Salvage MIC."

» 12.49pm: PR assemblymen say to Ganesan: "Let’s go, let’s go. Come on." The ruckus now is about getting Ganesan to leave the House.

» 12.56pm: Ganesan announces that he "adjourns" the House for another hour even though the sitting is not opened and his appointment as the new speaker is questionable. An assembly officer says Raja Nazrin is still in the building waiting to deliver his royal address.

» 2.30pm: PR assemblymen line up in front of Sivakumar’s chair, as if to block him from attempts to remove him physically. Earlier, Aulong assemblyman Yew Tian Hoe claimed Hee pepper-sprayed him in one of the earlier shouting matches. Reporters are not able to get a clear view of it as the assemblymen have all gathered together and are shouting at one another. Yew said he has to wash his eyes.

» 2.35pm: A PR assemblyman was pushed to the floor near the speaker’s chair. Special branch officers are also in the chamber. Everyone has crowded around Speaker Sivakumar’s chair.

» 2.39pm: Sivakumar is physically removed by the police from his chair. He has been taken out the door. Earlier, PR assemblymen tried to block police from laying their hands on him. Ngeh shouted at the police to get out. The Simpang Pulai rep was ordered to leave the House.

» 2.43pm: The shouting between BN and PR assemblymen continues as the reps face off around Sivakumar’s chair, now empty.

» 2.52pm: Ganesan takes his place at the speaker’s chair amidst shouts by PR reps that this is a police state.

» 2.57pm: Ganesan speaks from Speaker’s chair. He asks police to stop the Hutan Melintang assemblyman from heckling Zambry.

» 3pm: Zambry moves a motion that the next order of the House is to start with prayers and allow the Raja Muda of Perak Raja Nazrin Shah to give his royal address. All the while PR assemblymen thump their tables. The 28 BN assemblymen and three independents vote to approve Zambry’s motion while PR assemblymen shout "Bubar, Bubar!" (Dissolve, Dissolve!").

» 3.03pm: Ganesan orders Teja and Simpang Pulai assemblymen out of the House. Requests the Bentara to remove them. The doa is recited.

» 3.05pm: Another adjournment announced to wait for the entry of Raja Nazrin Shah.

» 3.10pm: While waiting for Raja Nazrin to enter, about 20 special branch officers line up at the front of the chamber to form a barrier between where Raja Nazrin will sit and the floor of the House.

» 3.12pm: Raja Nazrin enters the House.

» 3.15pm: Raja Nazrin whispers something to Datuk Ngeh Khoo Ham and Nizar after they kiss his hand to greet him. PR assemblymen take their seats on the right side of the Speaker’s chair while special branch officers leave the chamber.

» 3.20pm: Raja Nazrin starts speaking. He talks about the economic crisis and the government’s economic stimulus package and the mini budget and how these are meant to help the economy. He also talks about how swine flu presents new challenges, about the projects that have been implemented in Perak that have benefited the people.

» 4pm: After Raja Nazrin leaves the House, the heckling resumes. PR assemblymen heckle Ganesan. Earlier, Raja Nazrin shook hands with all the elected reps after the House was adjourned for 15 minutes to allow him to leave.

Satu Malaysia

Setiap pemimpin yang baru diangkat, lazimnya akan mengumumkan slogan-slogan baru yang akan menentukan halatuju dan dasar pemerintahan mereka. Malaysia tidak terkecuali. Mahathir memegang kuasa dengan slogan, 'Bersih, Cekap, Amanah' dan 'Penerapan Nilai-Nilai Islam'. Tidak sedikit yang terpikat dengan slogan manis Dr M. Abdullah Badawi dengan Islam Hadhari dan yang terkini konsep 'SATU MALAYSIA' oleh Tok Jib.

Ada beberapa perkembangan yang begitu menggusarkan saya dan majoriti umat Islam dengan konsep Satu Malaysia yang diperkenalkan oleh PM baru kita ini. Konsep Satu Malaysia ini masih kabur dari sudut objektif dan perlaksanaan. Oleh itu tidak hairanlah, Menteri Di JPM, Datuk Jamil Khir mengumumkan akan terdapat satu garis panduan dari JAKIM tentang konsep Satu Malaysia ini. Sudah pasti para pemikir,ustaz-ustaz dan pseudo-scholars dari JAKIM akan pening kepala menghuraikan konsep Satu Malaysia sepertimana mereka cuba mempopularkan istilah Islam Hadhari tidak lama dulu.

Persoalan yang harus mereka rungkai, adakah konsep ini menjadikan Islam dan agama-agama lain sebagai setaraf di Malaysia? Adakah bangsa, bahasa dan budaya Melayu masih menjadi teras di Malaysia? Konsep Satu Malaysia ini mungkin bagus jika dinilai dari sudut keadilan dan kesaksamaan untuk semua rakyat Malaysia. Namun beberapa tindakan kabinet selepas Tok Jib mengambil alih kerajaan adalah sangat meragukan. Contohnya;

1) Anak-anak kepada pasangan yang menukar agama mereka harus kekal dalam agama asal dan tidak boleh ditentukan agama mereka oleh ibu bapa yang menukar agama tadi.

(Dalam erti kata lain, kalau mak ayah masuk Islam, anak-anak mesti kekal murtad. Mak Ayah tak ada kuasa untuk menentukan agama mereka)

2) 'Liberalisasi' dalam beberapa sektor yang menghapuskan kuota penglibatan Bumiputra sebanyak 30%. Sektor perubatan dan kesihatan adalah antara yang terlibat.

3) Penghapusan Kementerian Pembangunan Usahawan yang menjadi payung kepada MARA dan pelbagai agensi yang membantu usahawan bumiputra terutama usahawan IKS.

4) Pengekalan PPSMI dalam sistem pendidikan nasional. Bahasa Inggeris masih kekal digunakan untu mata pelajaran sains dan matematik. Bahasa Melayu terus melutut di tepi gantang. Tidak layak untuk jadi bahasa sains dan ilmiah.

Selepas pilihan raya umum yang lalu, nampaknya Tok Jib cuba mengambil hati masyarakat bukan Melayu yang telah berubah angin mengundi pembangkang. Namun, dasar-dasar baru ini tampaknya terlalu tergesa-gesa dan sangat merugikan umat Islam dan bangsa Melayu di Malaysia. Orang Melayu sebenarnya tidak bijak berpolitik. Politik mereka tidak pernah menguntungkan bangsa sendiri. Keempat-empat dasar yang diberikan contoh di atas adalah bukti kegagalan kerajaan untuk membantu nasib agama Islam dan bangsa Melayu. Najib harus sedar dia mengambil alih sebuah kerajaan yang 'sakit'. Selama ini, orang Melayu merupakan tunjang kepada sokongan terhadap UMNO dan BN. Sedar atau tidak, polisi-polisi sebegini akan mengurangkan lagi kepercayaan dan sokongan orang-orang Melayu kepada BN. Entah mengapa, dalam keadaan 'sakit', UMNO dan BN masih tersasul langkah. Semua dasar dan strategi mereka tidak mengena. Sibuk mengejar sokongan bukan Melayu dan bukan Islam hingga membelakangkan umat Islam sendiri. Tunduk kepada desakan ahli kabinet bukan Islam. Yang dikejar tak dapat, yang dikendong berciciran. Pilihan raya akan datang, kita hampir pasti melihat BN dikuburkan dengan penuh adat istiadat demokrasi.