Leaders, civil society call on Sultan to break the impasse

(Suara keADILan) – Below is a list of reactions on this morning’s emergency sitting of the Perak legislative assembly, forced to take place under a tree in the car park of the state secretariat building, after efforts by the Speaker and other lawmakers to gain access were strenuously denied by the police.

Nizar Jamaluddin, Menteri Besar Perak

We have gotten the consensus for us to recommend to the Sultan that the state assembly be dissolved. It there is no dissolution, the constitutional crisis in Perak will go on and political stability would be affected.

So we are crying from the bottom of our hearts on behalf of the people of Perak, to urge the Sultan to listen to the voices of the people and dissolve the state assembly. If not, the crisis would go on and on. We do not want that.

Ramon Navaratnam, president of Transparency International

The whole episode has become a circus, a joke that has turned against the nation, not just Perak. There must be quick intervention by the leaders and all the quarters involved, including the Palace.

You see, the whole mess came about because they ignored the will of the people and this is a fundamental flaw in managing a democracy.

By now, it is very clear there can be only one solution – a state-wide election so that the people can register their wishes on the leadership that they want. Otherwise, this will continue and Perak will suffer because of the prolonged politicking. No party should be allowed to cling to power

Lim Guan Eng, Bagan PM and Penang Chief Minister

The police are taking a political stand by preventing a legally constituted assembly from sitting. The pPolice have shown that they are not the guardians of public safety but of Barisan National and this is regrettable.

Khalid Samad, Shah Alam MP

Today, I am speaking in this House but in Perak, they are meeting under a tree in front of the international media.

Tian Chua, KeADILan information chief

This is where the real danger to our society lies – from the way the Umno-BN consistently and persistently violates our laws.

Ambiga Sreenevasan, president of Bar Council

This is a real test of the whether our institutions are truly independent. Our institutions, that is the courts, the police and so on, are being tested and we can judge for ourselves whether they are acting independently or not.

We are very surprised the police is ignoring the Speaker. The secretary has absolutely no right nor authority at all to question the validity and legality of the sitting.