GEORGE TOWN, March 29 — The Penang government kicked off its engagement session for all state lawmakers at a hotel here today, but all four Perikatan Nasional (PN) assemblymen have refused participation.
The two-day session, held in lieu of the State Legislative Assembly, was to allow the elected representatives the chance to raise issues with the state executive councillors.
“We are boycotting this session following the state government’s action in withdrawing allocations of RM60,000 already approved for each Opposition assemblymen on January 20 this year,” the four assemblymen from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) said in a joint statement today.
The four assemblymen are Dr Afif Bahardin (Seberang Jaya), Zulkifli Ibrahim (Sungai Acheh), Khaliq Mehtab Mohd Ishaq (Bertam) and Zolkifly Md Lazim (Teluk Bahang).
The foursome said the allocation, which was meant for development, was withdrawn through a letter sent to them on February 19 this year.
“This allocation is important for each assemblyman to implement public infrastructure projects for the people,” they said.
They accused the DAP-led state government of punishing their constituents with their partisan and unprofessional conduct towards Opposition assemblymen and being inconsiderate of the majority who are facing difficulties due to the public health and economic crises wrought by Covid-19.
“As Opposition assemblymen, we will continue to serve our constituents and try to obtain allocations from the Perikatan Nasional government which is more caring and will not discriminate any side to implement projects and activities for the people,” they said.
However, all three Umno and PAS assemblymen were present at today’s session. They are: Penang Opposition Leader Datuk Muhamad Yusoff Mohd Noor (Sungai Dua - Umno), Nor Hafizah Othman (Permatang Berangan - Umno) and Mohd Yusni Mat Piah (Penaga - PAS).
Earlier, in his opening speech, Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the engagement session is vital to ensure check-and-balance of the state administration.
He said the engagement session was held as a replacement because the state legislative assembly could not meet during the nationwide Emergency.
“During this two-day session, each state exco will provide updates on the latest developments, policies, projects and programmes of their respective portfolio,” he said.
The presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session to allow the assemblymen present to raise issues with the state exco.
Chow said a total 129 questions were submitted to the state legislative assembly secretariat through the dialogpenang2021.penang.gov.my
He said his state administration had initially planned for a hybrid engagement session when Penang was still under the movement control order, which meant that the state exco will be present physically while the assemblymen will attend through video conferencing.
“Now that we are in the conditional movement control order, this session can be held physically as per the SOPs,” he said.
He said the state will be focused on three main crises at this point: the public health, economic and political crises.
“Possibly we have a fourth crisis, the water crisis,” he said in jest, referring to the ongoing river water extraction conflict between Penang and Kedah.
Chow said the state will focus on meeting the people’s needs and to ensure that the people are represented by the respective assemblymen so that any issues that arise can be resolved through the engagement session.
The engagement sessions will continue tomorrow at the St Giles Wembley Hotel.
