This comes after Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz pledged last week in the Dewan Rakyat that the present ferry services would continue its operations with a RM30 million grant.

“Ever since the minister acceded to my request in Parliament to continue the 126-year-old ferry service, there has been an unholy silence from Wee, the Penang Port Commission (PPC) and Penang Port Sdn Bhd (PPSB) on whether the service will continue as instructed.

“He (Zafrul) also confirmed that I had placed a condition in writing, when I was the finance minister, for the Penang ferry service to be continued in exchange for RM30 million cash incentive payment to PPSB.

“However, Wee and PPC chairman Tan Teik Cheng decided to terminate the ferry service outright on Dec 31 without any sentiment for its unique historic and heritage value,” Lim said in a statement.

He added Tan appeared to be “shocked” when asked by the media about the federal government’s decision for the ferry service to continue.

“If Wee and Tan choose to defy the minister’s instruction by pretending there has been no change in the decision to terminate the ferry service, then this will spark a legal wrangle,” Lim said.

Before this, PPC had announced that the Penang ferry service, which connects the mainland in Seberang Perai to the island state, will be replaced by speedboats starting Jan 1.

Recently, it announced plans to introduce catamarans to ferry people to and fro between the island and the mainland. It said the present two ferries will then stop services.