By Danial Dzulkifly
SHAH ALAM, Sept 19 – Former Banting assemblyman Lau Weng San of DAP has been elected the new Selangor State Legislative Assembly speaker after securing the votes of all 34 representatives from the government bench.
He bested opposition candidate, Selangor PAS deputy commissioner III Mohd Fuad Salleh, who was nominated by Perikatan Nasional (PN) for the position. The Islamist party leader garnered the remaining 22 votes.
Lau’s election puts to bed weeks of speculation pertaining to the successor of Ng Suee Lim, former state speaker.
Previously, DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke Siew Fook announced the party was nominating Lau for the position.
Lau did not participate in the state election last month.
Loke said this was the stipulation set by DAP in exchange for the party relinquishing its Dusun Tua seat to Barisan Nasional in the polls.
In the same session, Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman Mohd Kamri Kamaruddin was elected deputy speaker after receiving 34 out of the 56 votes.
He defeated PN’s Sungai Ramal assemblyman Shafie Ngah for the position.
All 56 state assembly members took their oaths as elected representatives at today’s sitting.
The Selangor election on August 12, which coincided with those in Kedah, Terengganu, Kelantan, Negeri Sembilan, and Penang, saw Pakatan Harapan (Harapan) securing 34 seats compared with PN’s 22.
The result meant Harapan lost its two-thirds’ majority in the state assembly.
