GEORGE TOWN, Nov 23 – Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has been urged by the Penang PKR Youth to retract a statement accusing five Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) state assemblymen of siding with UMNO, and to tender an open apology over a sea reclamation issue.
In a statement here on Sunday, the Penang PKR Youth movement, in describing the accusation as baseless, said it should not have been issued by a head of government to elected representatives supporting his leadership since 2008. It added that the decision not to vote at the motion on the 2,600 hectare land reclamation issue cannot be used as a yardstick to arbitrarily accuse PKR elected representatives of siding with UMNO.
In the meantime, the statement also said that the five elected representatives had differing views and took the stand to be neutral during voting at the debate session submitted by an elected representative from Barisan Nasional (BN) in the State Assembly sitting on Friday.
It said, Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general, should view more seriously Tanjung Bungah State Assemblyman Teh Yee Cheu who openly supported the motion and sided with UMNO, before making such accusation. On Saturday, Lim had said PKR must evaluate carefully the decision of the five elected representatives who were neutral in the voting process for the issue in question which was submitted by the opposition at the sitting.
