Azahar Mohamed J:

[1] Following the 12th General Elections held on 8.3.2008, the political alliance of Pakatan Rakyat won 31 seats in the 59 member Perak State Legislative Assembly (the Legislative Assembly) (see: Dato' Dr Zambry bin Abd Kadir v. Dato' Seri Ir Hj Mohammad Nizar bin Jamaluddin, [2009] 5 MLJ 464 [2009] 4 AMR 569). The political alliance of Barisan National held the remaining 28 seats. As a result, the political alliance of Pakatan Rakyat formed the State Government and Mr. Sivakumar a/l Varatharaju Naidu (the Plaintiff), theTronoh State Assemblyman, was subsequently elected by the Legislative Assembly as its Speaker.

[2] In February 2009, a very important event took place. It is not necessary for me to go into detail here about the event but suffice to say that the political alliance of Barisan National formed the new State Government replacing the political alliance of Pakatan Rakyat.

[3] On 23.4.2009, the office of the Secretary to the Legislative Assembly received two motions. The first was a motion to remove the Plaintiff as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. The second motion was to appoint Mr. Ganesan A/L Retanam (the Defendant) as the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.

[4] On 7.5.2009, the Legislative Assembly convened for the first time since the formation of the new State Government. The proceedings of the Legislative Assembly on 7.5.2009 formed the subject matter of the present action, about which more will be said further on at a later stage of this judgment.

[5] Subsequent to the proceedings of the Legislative Assembly on 7.5.2009, the Plaintiff had on 15.5.2009 filed a writ of summons and a statement of claim (encl. 1) herein against the Defendant. He also filed on the same date a summons in chamber (encl. 3) seeking; inter alia , the following orders:

(a) The Defendant and/or his agents or servants be prevented from denying the Plaintiff entry to the Assembly or from prohibiting or obstructing the Plaintiff in any way whatsoever from occupying the office of or carrying out his duties as the lawful Speaker of the Perak State Assembly;

(b) The Defendant and/or his agents or servants be prohibited from carrying out any further acts of abuse, assault and/or battery on the Plaintiff;

[6] Subsequently, the Defendant took out a summons in chamber dated 30.6.2009 (encl.11) seeking an order, inter alia, to strike out the whole of the Plaintiff's writ of summons and the statement of claim.

[7] In view of the Defendant's striking out application, I will have to deal with and resolve the Defendant's application in encl. 11 in the first instance.

[8] At this juncture, it is important to take a closer look at the Plaintiff's statement of claim. According to the Plaintiff, he is at all material times, the Tronoh State Assemblyman and he is still the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. The Defendant is, at all material times, not an elected member of the Legislative Assembly and therefore his presence at any Legislative Assembly sitting is unlawful and constitutes contempt of the Legislative Assembly. On 7.5.2009, at or about 2.00 p.m., the Plaintiff was presiding over a sitting of the Legislative Assembly at the Bangunan Darul Ridzuan, Jalan Panglima Bukit Gantang, Ipoh and was lawfully occupying his seat in the Assembly hall when the Defendant's servants and/or agents assaulted the Plaintiff by seizing him with violence, dragging him from his seat and forcibly ejecting him from the Assembly. It was upon the specific instructions of the Defendant that the Defendant's servants and/or agents carried out the unlawful act of evicting the Plaintiff from his seat and the Assembly in the presence of the Defendant. During the Plaintiff's forced absence from the Assembly hall, the Defendant unlawfully held himself out as the Speaker by occupying the Speaker's seat and donning the Speaker's attire. In the meantime, the Plaintiff was wrongfully and without lawful justification kept in custody and/or imprisoned by the De