SEREMBAN: With about three weeks left before the tabling of the state budget, Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar Datuk Ismail Lasim remains optimistic that he will get the consent of the Yang di-Pertuan Besar to open the legislative assembly.
“If God wills it,” he said briefly when met after launching the state-level e-Tanah system.
State Ruler Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir is scheduled to open the six-day session on Nov 26.
This will be followed by the tabling of the state budget the next day by the Mentri Besar.
Debates will then run for four days starting Nov 30.
On Oct 30, Ismail said he was still awaiting the Ruler’s formal consent to open the session.
When contacted, state DAP chief J. Arul Kumar said the opposition assemblymen have yet to receive official notice regarding the scheduled session.
“State laws stipulate that notices must be issued at least 28 days before a session to allow elected representatives submit their questions and give authorities sufficient time to prepare replies,” he said.
Given the current timeline, he expressed skepticism about the schedule.
Arul Kumar said when the state government initially planned to hold the session on Oct 16, assemblymen had already received the notice about two months earlier on Aug 18.
That session was cancelled due to a constitutional and political crisis in the state, which was followed by the sacking of the state’s 10 exco members by the state Ruler.
The exco members, whose sacking took effect on Sept 20, are now challenging their sacking in court.
Ismail, who was sworn in as Mentri Besar before Tuanku Muhriz on Aug 2 following the state polls, had initially declared his full, undivided loyalty to the Ruler.
However, the following day, he signed a proclamation document to remove Tuanku Muhriz and recognise Tunku Nadzaruddin Tuanku Ja’afar as his successor.
(The proclamation document was first issued by the four Undang or ruling chiefs on April 19. Three of the ruling chiefs’ positions were, however, in dispute and they were eventually removed.)
