KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 — The replacing of Penang’s iconic ferries with modern water buses was a cold and callous approach that ignored Penang’s unique heritage and history, said Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng.
The former Penang chief minister said it was the state’s heritage and history that played an important role as an economic generator of tourism.
“Ending the ferry service will take the romance out of going to Penang in the traditional manner, bearing in mind that George Town is a Unesco World Heritage city,” he said in a statement issued today, using the acronym for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.
The DAP secretary-general reminded the federal government that heritage and history are something that money cannot buy and should be treasured for future generations.
Lim, who was also formerly the finance minister under the Pakatan Harapan government, said the current Perikatan Nasional (PN) government and MCA had betrayed Penang with their plans to entirely terminate the Penang ferries that have been operating for 126 years.
He claimed that the former PH government had transferred the Penang ferry service back to Penang Port Sdn Bhd (PPSB) from Prasarana Bhd, with the understanding that the iconic Penang ferry must be retained together with cash payments as an incentive.
“Not just Penangites but many Malaysians who loved using the Penang ferry service to commute to Penang island are sad at the PN government’s justification for terminating the ferry service as being driven by statistics and economics, rather than emotions or politics,” he said.
Lim was responding to an official announcement by Penang Port Commission chairman Datuk Tan Teik Cheng yesterday that the old ferries will be stopped entirely by 2022 and replaced by water buses and vehicle transporters.
Tan also announced that only one ferry will continue to operate until July 2022 to transport bicycles and motorcycles while other passengers will need to take fast ferries from the Swettenham Pier Cruise Terminal.
There will not be any ferries to transport four-wheeled vehicles to and fro between the island and the mainland from January 1 onwards.
Lim said the Penang state government had offered to take over the entire Penang water transport services and ferry service in 2015 by bearing its costs but the Transport Ministry had refused to grant full authority to the state in 2016.
He claimed the transport ministry at that time had insisted on exercising regulatory control over the water transport and ferry services in Penang.
He said the PN government had repeatedly “betrayed” Penangites such as cancelling the RM100 million allocated in the 2020 Budget for a cable car system on Penang Hill.
“Similarly, the promised bank loan guarantees by the previous PH government to build the LRT to overcome the chronic traffic congestion in Penang and Seberang Perai was also cancelled,” he said.
He called on the transport ministry not to abandon Penang and its iconic ferry service.
“Many foreign countries still retain its original ferry services even though it may not be economical due to its intrinsic worth and intangible value to heritage and history,” he said.
