Carry on protesting, Chow tells groups
The chief minister says it is all right to submit memos to government officials as long as it is done properly.
GEORGE TOWN: Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow today said it was all right for people to send protest notes to government officials, adding that it was least embarrassing.
This was after former municipal councillor Joshua Woo said Penang Forum had “embarrassed” the state by handing out anti-reclamation flyers and a “backward” memorandum to minister Zuraida Kamaruddin.
At a press conference here today, Chow said that the competency, accountability and transparency (CAT) policy adopted by the state allowed freedom of expression, and such memorandums were acceptable.
“We have adopted CAT for 11 years now. If adopting CAT is an embarrassment, then we would have been embarrassed for the past 11 years.
“In fact, every Friday has been a ‘memo surrendering’ day. For me, anyone can send us anything. So long it is done with decorum, then there is no issue of embarrassment,” he said.
Yesterday, Penang Forum steering committee member and spokesperson of Penang Against Reclamation group Khoo Salma Nasution sent a memo to Zuraida, saying reclamation was against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
Cable car and crowd control on Penang Hill
Meanwhile, Chow allayed fears that there would be too many visitors at any one time on Penang Hill, following the proposal to set up a cable car project to the summit.
He said there would be crowd control in the form of peak and off-peak pricing similar to what was being practised on the present funicular railway.
He was responding to concerns the resort might see an influx of visitors despite a cap set at 4,800 at any one time under the Special Area Plan.
Chow said the cable car project remained a proposal as a study was being carried out to see if it was worthwhile building such a system from the Botanic Gardens to Habitat Park on the hilltop.
‘Govt must review redrawing of electoral boundaries’
Separately, Chow said the 2018 redrawing of electoral boundaries should be revisited so that the people could be properly represented.
He said the problem of oversized constituencies was not unique to Penang.
“The whole country should have its election boundaries redrawn. Look at Pandamaran, Shah Alam and Paya Terubong. Big seats are given more voters, and small seats fewer voters. This is a problem that needs to be rectified,” he said.
He was responding to the Election Commission’s (EC) suggestion that state assemblies could pass a law to allow additional seats to be created so that the EC could redraw electoral boundaries.
EC chairman Azhar Harun was recently asked if there were plans to redraw the Paya Terubong state seat, which had as many voters as a parliamentary seat.
The state seat has 46,741 voters, whereas Bukit Gelugor – the parliamentary seat where Paya Terubong lies – has 91,595 voters.
Stay current - Follow FMT on WhatsApp, Google news and Telegram
Without the additional seats created, all states would have to wait until 2026, when the federal and state seat boundaries are due for a review.