Remember how Hee was quoted in theSun as saying that what she was brandishing was actually a hotel key chain and pen drive?
So what do you make of this? The Star now carries this report of her saying that the device was actually flung at her and she was merely demanding to know whether it was Aulong assembly member Yew Tian Hoe who had thrown it at her.
Riot police barging in to the DAP dinner on Saturday night – Photos courtesy of Ngeh Koo Ham’s blog. More pictures here
Police confiscating audio-visual equipment used for the dinner-time video screening of the 7 May Perak State Assembly proceedings
Riot police raided a DAP dinner in Sitiawan on 9 May during the screening of a video on the 7 May Perak State Assembly proceedings, according to Suara Keadilan online.
One person, a video technician, was arrested.
Police confiscated “one DVD player, three projectors, two mobile screens and other equipment at the thousand-people DAP dinner,” wrote Lim Kit Siang in his blog.
Perak Speaker V Sivakumar receiving a hero’s welcome at a DAP dinner on Saturday night
Perak Speaker V Sivakumar has paid tribute to his mother in a Mother’s Day message. Recalling how they came from humble beginnings, he said his mother was over the moon when he was appointed Speaker a year ago. But her proudest moment came when he was dragged out of the Dewan on 7 May because he was “brave enough to struggle for the people’s rights”.
Menurutnya, kesetiaan saya dalam memperjuangkan keadilan untuk rakyat telah membuat dirinya sebagai seorang ibu yang istemewa. Kata-katanya itu memberi rangsangan dan semangat baru dalam hati naluri saya.
Meanwhile, Siva has sharply criticised Hee Yit Foong for usurping his authority and attempting to create a “sub-Dewan” even though he was still presiding.
This was the peaceful candlelight vigil in Penang on 7 May.
A phyrric victory for the BN – but at what cost to its credibility?
This is a piece I wrote for Asia Times:
The battle of Malaysia’s ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition to regain control of the second-largest state on the Malaysian Peninsula may have come at a heavy price to its long-term credibility and raises questions about new Prime Minister Razak Najib’s emerging brand of leadership.
What is Hee doing here? Speaker Sivakumar alleges that Deputy Speaker Hee Yit Foong used pepper spray to attack Aulong assembly member Yew Tian Hoe. But Hee maintains the device she was holding in her hand was a key chain from her hotel and a pen drive. “I would not give him (Yew) free publicity by pepper spraying him in the House,” she was quoted in theSun as saying.
A roll call of “officers” in the Dewan car-park at the end of the day
Who were all those mysterious personnel wearing “pegawai” (officer) tags at the Perak State Assembly on that infamous 7 May?
Several photos made available to me show them during a roll-call in the Dewan’s car park at the end of the day, just before 5.00pm.
A couple of hours earlier, men in neck-ties and long-sleeves shirts, some of them donning black jackets and songkoks, sporting the same blue-and-yellow “pegawai” tags, were seen alongside a couple of uniformed police personnel, inside the Dewan proper.
Police moved in on the vigil in Penang – Photo by Romerz
Fourteen people were arrested in Brickfields tonight at a vigil to express solidarity with activist Wong Chin Huat.
Of the 14, seven of them were from the students’ movement Dema and two from the KL Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall youth section. They are now at a car-park at the Brickfields police stations, though their statements have not yet been recorded. The arrests today come on the heels of 14 arrests last night (though that batch were later released).
Over in Penang, USM masters student Ng Eng Kiat was detained after a “Democracy First” vigil in Penang attended by between 50 and a hundred people outside the Dewan Sri Pinang tonight. He was the emcee of the event.
Siva’s defenders: Simpang Pulai Adun Chan Ming Kai (left) and Teja Adun Chang Lih Kang were among the Speaker’s most forthright “guardians” in the Assembly today – Photo by Anil Netto
It was a dark day for democracy. If the BN thought that its actions in the Perak State Assembly would legitimise its power grab in Perak, it was sadly mistaken. Instead, it has revealed the naked truth to so many Malaysians about how far it would go to strengthen its grip on power, even if it means undermining the very institutions it should defend.
Aliran’s P Ramakrishnan has issued a statement that, among other things, sharply criticises the refusal of the Dewan’s sergeant-at-arms to carry out Speaker Sivakumar’s orders. He also raises the issue of police conduct in helping Umno to install its Speaker:
