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IPOH, March 15 — Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Saarani Mohamad today welcomed the suggestion of having a meeting among all 59 assemblymen in the state to discuss public issues as state assembly is still under suspension due to Emergency.
However, Saarani said the question now is who is going to administer the meeting.
“Will it be managed by the State Speaker or The Mentri Besar Office or the State Executive Councillor’s Meeting,” he told reporters after attending the Work Department’s work draw event at the State Secretariat Building here.
“Nevertheless, this is a good suggestion since we can’t have our state assembly due to the Emergency ordinance.
“But this is only for the purpose of informal meeting. It does not have to be gazetted, no need to be present at the hall, no need formal attire. It will just be a normal meeting,” he added.
Saarani said the meeting will also allow him to inform all the assemblymen on the state government’s progress.
“If we have this meeting, as the Mentri Besar I can give briefings on what has been done and what is going to take place.
“We can table the state government’s blueprint. We can also report on the status of tax collection, financial, expenditures and a few other things.
“And after that, we can hear the feedback from the assemblymen. In this way we can improve our performance. It can be done in Hotel Casuarina or even in the State Secretariat’s banquet hall,” he said.
However, Saarani said it has to be first discussed with the State Legal Advisor so that there would not be any misunderstanding thinking the state government is conducting an illegal session.
The suggestion was brought up by the Perak Amanah chairman Datuk Asmuni Awi, who is also the Manjoi assemblyman, yesterday.
Asmuni also said that he will bring this suggestion to the State Speaker Datuk Mohammad Zahir Abdul Khalid.
“At least Perak will have the initiative to hold an alternative conference, when the State Assembly could not resume due to emergency, even if it does not discuss any legal matters,” said Asmuni.