The DAP condemns the actions of a group of protesters who stormed into the Penang State Assembly yesterday.
These are the actions of people who do not respect the democratic process which operates on the strength of intellectual discourse by way of debate in the dewan itself and not the use of external force on the dewan to get their way.
Elected representatives are entitled to an assurance that they can speak up in the dewan without fear or favour. If there are matters which need clarification then questions or challenges can be posed to that effect in the dewan itself.
If there is misconduct on part of any elected representative, complaints can be made and if it is found that he has abused his privileges as a representative, then the dewan has the right to act against him.
But to resort to mob rule is something which is simply disgraceful and unacceptable.
As Member of Parliament, I urge the police to act against this group of persons without delay. This country can ill afford to find itself seen internationally as a nation in which there is no respect for the rule of law.
This is not the first time this has happened. In february 2009, a group comprising of UMNO Youth members confronted the late YB Karpal Singh in Parliament. That nearly resulted in a fist fight between MP’s present and the group.
We need to be serious if we want to stop incidents like these from happening again.
Such an attack on either Parliament or any of the State Legislative Assemblies, to my mind, amounts to an attack on democracy itself. We cannot allow such incidents to pass without the most severe of punishment.