Zairil Khir booed at meet-the-people session
GEORGE TOWN: A meet-the-people session at the Miami Green Resort Condominium here yesterday morning turned into a “bashing exercise” against former Bukit Bendera member of parliament Zairil Khir Johari.
Disgruntled residents, who were unhappy about a high-rise hillslope development in their backyard, lashed out at the DAP representative as he addressed the crowd.
This was after Zeezy Global Sdn Bhd geotechnical consultant Aziz Noor, who was hired by the residents to conduct a peer review of the project’s geotechnical and environmental impact assessment reports, told them about the dangers they faced if the development proceeded.
“The DAP-led Penang government has always been transparent. Safety has always been our main concern and the state government takes safety seriously,” said Zairil, who was invited by Miami Green Resort Condominium management corporation representative Leslie Leng, to address the crowd.
“For this particular project, the planning approval was given by the authorities after the goahead given by all technical departments, which are federal government agencies, as it met the necessary guidelines.”
At this juncture, a resident, Jessica Lee, in her 50s, booed Zairil.
He responded by saying: “I am confident that approval would not have been given if the guidelines were not complied with.”
Lee then asked Zairil why the landslide in Tanjung Bungah had occurred last October.
When he continued to defend the state government’s hillslope development policy, Lee shouted: “Stop giving reasons. We do not need a ‘wakil pemaju’ (developers’ representative).
“Something definitely went wrong with the project as there was a quarry operation near the site,” Lee shouted at him.