Perak Police Slammed

PETALING JAYA, 7 May 2009: The police's forceful ejection of Perak speaker V Sivakumar from the state assembly today has been slammed by the Malaysian Bar Council and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

"The police acted in an unjustifiable and unacceptable manner," said Bar Council president Ragunath Kesavan in a statement.

Ragunath also condemned the arrests of those gathered around the state assembly building.

According to an e-mail alert by rights group Suaram, police arrested more than 50 MPs, state assemblypersons and members of the public today.

The Star later confirmed that there were 64 arrests in total, and 13 have already been released.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Selangor information chief Datin Paduka Dr Tan Yee Kew said, "The police, who acted like gangsters, were obviously used by the Barisan Nasional (BN) to wrestle power in Perak.

"The police, as civil servants, should not have interfered in the sitting of the Perak state assembly," she said.

Ragunath said, "It is obvious that the conflicts currently being played out arise from the lack of clarity and certainty about which political coalition commands the majority in the [assembly]."

He said issues such as whether certain assemblypersons should be permitted to attend the sitting, who the speaker should be, and the seating arrangements within the assembly, were "mere side issues".

"As such, the only solution must be to go back to the people," he said.