Penang PKR chief to meet Guan Eng over flood aid controversy

GEORGE TOWN: Penang PKR chairman Datuk Mansor Othman is expected to meet Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng next week to iron out issues concerning the exclusion of a PKR lawmaker by the state government from handling flood aid registration.

Mansor told the New Straits Times yesterday that he was informed that the meeting would be held “sometime next week”.

“I have said what I needed to say (earlier).

“So far, I have not heard anything from Lim.

“Let us wait until the meeting before I respond further on the matter,” Mansor said.

PKR’s Kebun Bunga assemblyman Cheah Kah Peng was recently excluded by the DAP-led Penang government from handling the flood aid registration, spelling a possible row between the state DAP and PKR.

This led Mansor to lash out at the Penang government for excluding Cheah, and relegating the duty to DAP’s Pulau Tikus assemblyman Yap Soo Huey.

He had described the move as “undemocratic” and insisted that the task be handed to Cheah as he was the elected representative of the constituency.

Mansor had said the state government’s reason that the decision was based on “internal procedural changes”, was incomprehensible and had tarnished Pakatan Harapan pact’s “spirit of togetherness”.

Since then, there had been calls within PKR to resolve the matter before it led to a bigger conflict, with party vice-president Tian Chua urging the state government to review its decision.

Political blogger Lim Sian See said what had happened again showed that Pakatan was not a coalition of equals, but dominated by DAP.

On Nov 20, State Secretary Datuk Seri Farizan Darus had sent an email to Cheah informing him that he would not handle the flood aid registration of victims in his constituency, which was affected by the Nov 4 major floods.

On Thursday, Lim told newsmen that he and Yap would take over the duties for the Kebun Bunga constituency.

Lim had said the move was part of “internal procedural changes” to ensure that the aid could be distributed effectively to all victims.

Cheah had accused the DAPled Penang government of being driven by political interest, and the move to bar him from assisting his constituents to register was impractical.