Speaker Sivakumar, Encore! Encore!

Mr. Speaker Sivakumar, the head of State Legislative Assembly,

Many Malaysians cried when they witnessed you being dragged out of the State Assembly like a sack of potatoes. Many more have considered you as their hero, not the ones in kung-fu films, but in real life. It is one level of bravery to give punches to those who physically violating you, it is definitely another level of bravery when you show courage to stand your ground as the speaker and still humble enough not to physically lash out at others or resorting to other power abuses. I, just like many others, salute your principled bravery.

However, the main reason I write to you is not for saluting your bravery and sacrifice, which everyone can see themselves. I write to you to urge you to keep standing your ground as the head of the state legislative, and repeat what you have done on May 7, 2009. Yes, I propose you do, more or less, as what you had done. This is an "encore" call.

As ancient warfare strategist Sun Tze pointed out, it is very important for us to know ourselves and our rival before we engage in a fight. We need to know our weakness and strength, as well as those of our rivals. Our main strengths are our ideals, our numbers, and our connectedness through Internet. Our main weaknesses are our susceptibility to physical force and our inherent race-based sentiments. In the other hand, our rival, as defined as BN-UMNO, has shown their weaknesses as lacking the idea and ideal and fast shrinking approval rating from common people. However, we should not cheat ourselves by ignoring our rival strength in having almost complete control of police, military forces, money, and other state machinery. Our rival is also well-trained for exploiting our racial affinity in order to "divide and rule" us the common people (Yes, it is a strength, albeit an evil one).

I urge you to repeat the 0507 because it works to our advantage when you considers our and our rival's strength and weaknesses. By repeating 0507, it means we hold to our ideal of supporting the separation of powers and supporting the Article 72, Clause (1) of the Federal Constitution which clearly states that "the validity of any proceedings in the Legislative Assembly of any State shall not be questioned in any court." Repeating 0507 also means we further leverage the Internet connectedness to reach masses including those ever-important fence sitters. Even though 0507 shows interference from police personnel, our rivals actually dare not to use water cannon, tear gas, and guns in the state assembly hall. Thus repeating 0507 is a way to avoid the brute of physical force actually available to our rival outside the assembly. More important to note is that our rival has no use of their well-trained skill on "divide and rule" when we are in the assembly hall - they simply cannot show their below-the-belt blow when we have media over them. In short, repeating 0507, although might cause common people emotional anguish, is of our advantage because it sets the battlefield on our terms, not our rival terms. As Sun Tze said, if a fight is inevitable, we must set the battlefield on our terms.

Many would like to describe Perak political entanglement as constitutional crisis. I would like to dispute such characterization. The constitution is very clear in upholding the separation of powers between judicial, legislative, executive, monarchy. Even the Chief Minister as head of state executive is just simply a member of the assembly when he is in the assembly hall, where the speaker calls the shot. There is even specific clause such as Article 72 (Clause (1)) which specifically prohibits any court to question the validity of any proceedings in the Legislative Assembly. While the content of the constitution is rectified around the Independence of the nation, it is actually derived from common human history. The doctrine of the separation of powers is firmly enshrined in our constitution as the wisdom of not only this nation's forefathers but also founders of other great nations such as Roman and United States of America. Since the constitution is clear and sound, then it is not a constitutional crisis. It is at worst a political crisis which is itself a process for all us to align with the constitution which includes the doctrine of the separation of powers. As the political crisis gyrates, business activities in Perak still proceed without much interruption at least for short term. Political entanglement needs time to unfold in the political sphere, and there is no need for "babies" to cry for the help of big "Daddy" represented by the police forces and military. You are the "first actor" to unfold this political entanglement.

What you had done in 0507 is very much perfect, and probably, in my humble opinion, needs only small modification for the next round. Since you call the shot in the assembly, you might want to consider to hire your own sergeant-at-arm, state secretary, as well as bring your own hand-held bull-horn voice amplifier. With the help of your sergeant-at-arm, one of the first thing is to make sure you sit at the speaker chair, and then you could replay the "acts" just like what we had witnessed in 0507. Yes, you need one or more strong sergeant-at-arm with the ability to maneuver the crowd on your behalf.

If the people of Malaysia do not understand what it means to be assertive leader of the legislative, now it is the second time you can show them the way. You can have the strongest Sergeant-at-arm, and still comply with the demand of constitution. If the Malaysians don't understand why you can do that, then please have a new conference to declare and rule that the assembly we had on 0507 is unconstitutional on procedural ground. Act likes you are still the valid speaker since you are. Malaysians might be slow learners, but I think they will get it.

Will people perceive you as arrogant and abusing the power if you repeat 0507? I think the degree of assertiveness and humility you had shown in 0507 is a prefect mix. You are doing what the constitution "script" has asked you to do -- i.e. to run the state legislative as elected representative. Besides leading the assembly to create state law, you enforce the assembly rules to facilitate the proceeding. You are the boss within the boundary of the assembly, and you decide how to enforce the rules. In case the people of Malaysians don't get it, please do explain that your speaker power is not absolute because you don't enforce rules outside the assembly. ADUNs can protest and run back to Chief Minister to complain about your actions. Chief Minister has the power bestowed by constitution to counter your power by requesting the Sultan to resolve the assembly. Your power as speaker is not to be taken away by physical force, but by constitutional means. We need your help by repeating 0507 to get many fence-sitters to sink in what is separation of powers and how their rights are protected by the doctrine.

0507 is a good "show". Encore! Encore! And see if the secondary actors (i.e. BN-UMNO) are cooperating to "act" along. Despite many complaint about being tired of the Perak events, people inherently and sometime unconsciously love heart-wrenching drama especially those involves no real bloodshed. This one is actually educational.