Several records set by assembly - The Star

May 28, 2008

THE first sitting of the 12th Selangor State Assembly which was adjourned on Monday night will go into history for setting several new records.

It was the first time in the history of the state that the assembly was not convened by the Barisan Nasional or its predecessor the Alliance coalition.

The assembly sitting, led by the new Pakatan Rakyat state government, also went on with the session until 9pm on Monday, the last day of its first sitting. The State Constitution does not allow proceedings to go beyond midnight.

Thirty-one representatives from both the Pakatan and Barisan participated in the debate. The usual morning tea break at 11am was cancelled to allow more time for debate.

There was live coverage of the entire proceedings via Internet broadband streaming to allow the people to view the sessions from their homes and offices.

The assembly also made history for being the first in the country that passed a bill calling for the abolishment of the Internal Security Act (ISA).

In terms of press coverage, an average of 30 members from the various media were present at any one time throughout the sitting, which started last Wednesday.

State Assembly Speaker Teng Chang Khim, the first Chinese to hold the post, has also demonstrated real professionalism and impartiality in his debut as the Chair. Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid has highly commended Teng for his sterling performance.

It was the first time that 31 representatives had taken part in the debate on the royal address.


“By cutting out the tea-breaks and by extending the session for an additional hour on Friday and several more hours on Monday night, we have actually gained an extra day,'' Khalid told the assembly at the conclusion of the proceedings,

State assemblyman Datuk Karim Mansur (Tanjung Sepat-BN) perhaps sums up the whole first meeting best when he said: “I see this as a different sitting from the previous ones as the representatives are very focused on the issues they are taking on,''

Karim, a two-term assemblyman, said he was impressed with the performance of most of the assemblymen for being very objective and informative with their views.

“The flow of the sitting was smooth and I witnessed a good command of language from all the assemblymen,'' he said.