GEORGE TOWN, Dec 7 – Penang Barisan Nasional (BN) today welcomed the state government’s decision to declassify the agreements on land reclamation. Its chairman Teng Chang Yeow said they would like to remind the state government that it was not just the Seri Tanjong Pinang (STP) agreement but all agreements of past and present including the supplementary agreements, if the state government had nothing to hide of the present agreements.
“We had, when tabling the motion on land reclamation at the recent state assembly sitting, prepared to allow the previous decisions be scrutinised by the public. The state government should declassify all past and present agreements on land reclamation to showcase their Competency, Accountability and Transparency (CAT) mantra,” he said in a statement here today.
During the state assembly sitting on Nov 17, a motion for all reclamation projects was tabled by Pulau Betong assemblyman Muhammad Farid Saad for a public hearing be conducted on the sea reclamation project but the motion was rejected by the Speaker Datuk Law Choo Kiang due to 23 assemblymen voted against it.
He also suggested that the project be suspended until a further study had been done on its impact on the environment, and to halt it if the outcome was found to be adverse. However, the motion failed to get majority support which only 10 of the assemblymen comprising nine from BN and one from DAP supported it. Five from Parti Keadilan Rakyat chose to abstain.
