V. Sivakumar

Who is V. Sivakumar?

Sivakumar Varatharaju Naidu better known as V. Sivakumar is a Malaysian politician from Perak, and the current Speaker of the Perak State Assembly. He is the first ethnic Indian to become the speaker of a Malaysian legislative body, succeeding Junus Wahid, the previous speaker of the State Assembly from UMNO - Barisan Nasional.

Sivakumar's tenure as speaker was shrouded in controversy surrounding his handling of the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis, where the opposition Barisan Nasional managed to obtain three defections from the elected government, enabling Barisan Nasional under Zambry Abdul Kadir to form the new government. Sivakumar had the members of the disputed new Barisan Nasional cabinet suspended for contempt of assembly. Many blogs, particularly Malaysia Today run by the influential royal Raja Petra Kamaruddin, and news portals in cyberspace praised him for his resilience in insisting for an official vote of no-confidence against the incumbent Pakatan Rakyat government of Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin before taking charge. The mainstream media of Malaysia criticised him for being partisan and biased against Barisan Nasional.