An Afternoon at the Dewan Undangan Negeri Kedah..

That's where I ended up last Tuesday afternoon, after work. A bunch of us from school went to the Kedah State Assembly to attend the tabling of the 2010 Kedah State Budget by the MB, Datuk Azizan Abdul Razak.

Being the first time, it was kinda exciting at first. We took our seats and the bell was rung at 3 p.m. The announcement of the entrance of the Speaker marked the beginning of the session.

Actually I had no idea that it was the tabling of the 2010 Budget. I was expecting to see some 'debates'. So it was kinda disappointing. Listening to the tabling takes a lot willpower to stay awake cos like the National Budget, the MB rattled off lots and lots figures.

Anyway, the first thing that came into my mind when I entered the hall was how small the it was. Noticed that the various Pengarah(s) had seats in the Dewan too. Makes sense cos they need to be at the forefront of policy making. The DUN is after all the state's legislative body. I noticed that only one seat from the State Gahmen was empty but a couple from the Opposition (which is BN) were emtpy. BN reps are well known for their ponteng habit. The High Court declared Seputeh seat vacant because the Rep went missing for two consecutive State Assembly meetings without the permission of the Speaker. The hearing for the stay of execution of the ruling by the Election Commission will be on Monday. The EC had earlier over ruled the Speaker. Sometimes the EC seems like the BN's running dogs.... A rep who keep missing the State Assembly meetings should be booted out.

Spot the sleeping DUN if you can. Many observers took their 40 winks also... including some of my colleagues! LOL! Anyway, the sitting lasted only around 50 minutes before being adjourned to the next morning. It was only to table to the budget and it was utterly boring. But it must be kinda fun being the MB cos I noticed that as soon the tabling ended, all the reporters rushed down to snap his photos.... like movie star only.

Anyway, we were given a simple tea after the tabling upstairs. Not bad. He! He!

This is a shot from the press vantage point. LOL! My friend and I were among the press people! We went down to listen to the press conference while the rest ate. The MB can talk well... that's one of their job requirements I supposed, else how to convince the people to vote them in!

My impression of the sitting.... nothing much! Most of the reps looked bored. Some of them looked 'tak larat'. There's just no 'oomph' from them.