IN IPOH
ONCE upon a time, it was just another tree at a road junction in Ipoh. Today, the curious locals are posing for photographs beneath the ‘Democracy Tree’ and there isn’t a tree more famous than this one near the Ipoh State Secretariat.
It was the one under which the 28 assemblymen of the ousted government of Perak held their assembly "sitting" last Tuesday. They were barred from entering the state assembly hall about 200 metres away.
After a brief stand-off with police and their water cannon, they decided to hold their meeting under the tree. Over 15 minutes, three motions were tabled and passed – all three aimed at dislodging the new Barisan Nasional government that was installed after defections left the Pakatan Rakyat with fewer seats.
The tree came in useful. A TV cameraman, frustrated at being kept at bay by belligerent opposition supporters, climbed up its branches to get a vantage point. He stole the show when it looked like he was on the verge of losing his balance. But all went well.
This tree has a romantic story attached to it too, according to the China Press daily. It said a local Indian boy meets his ex-girlfriend's brother there once a month for news about her, and to give money to her. She lives nearby.
He waits under the tree while the brother goes to talk to his sister, and comes back with news. This has been going on for a year.
This was the first, and probably the last, under-the-tree assembly – dubbed the Tree House by the New Straits Times, and a shady meeting by some others.
The Ipoh High Court has issued an injunction to prevent further such meetings.
But this won’t be the last of the sittings. Under the state constitution, the state assembly must be convened every six months.
The last sitting was in November last year. Mid May is the deadline.
Expect another showdown. Despite the BN's hopes of a quick settlement, the opposition is determined to keep the flames alive. Analysts have warned that the state will be highly unstable for months, perhaps even more unstable than the previous PR government.
Increasingly, it appears that fresh polls are the only way to resolve the impasse that has already spawned an uncountable number of law suits.
Meanwhile, the tree has been identified as a rain tree after debate raged for a few days. The Sin Chew Daily called it a yellow flame tree while The Star said it was a raintree.
Yesterday, the China Press quoted an expert from the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia as confirming that it's a rain tree (samanea saman).