Stand in Penang, Kit Siang dared

Gerakan: We will field Teng if DAP adviser takes up the challenge

KUALA LUMPUR: DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang has been challenged to contest against Gerakan’s Teng Chang Yeow in Penang in the next general election, says party president Datuk Mah Siew Keong.

He said the move was Barisan Nasional’s initiative to re-capture Penang from DAP.

“Before this, we opted not to nominate Teng to make way for new blood.

“But for Lim, we will field Teng in the 14th general election in Penang,” he said after chairing the party’s central working committee meeting here yesterday.

Teng is also Penang Barisan chairman.

On another matter, Mah said DAP should stop blaming former Penang chief minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon over the Sungai Lembu illegal factory issue.

Mah said DAP is blaming Dr Koh and Gerakan because it has no plausible explanation for the contentious Sungai Lembu illegal carbon processing factory.

“The DAP-led Penang government should have taken measures to tackle the issue of illegal factories in the state rather than politicising the matter,” he said.

Mah was commenting on Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who blamed Dr Koh as the person behind the construction of the illegal factory.

Lim said the factory was able to operate for over 10 years because of a state policy that did not seek to demolish or close down illegal structures or businesses that existed before DAP took over Penang in 2008.

On palm oil, Mah, who is Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister, said the salaries of a majority of Indonesian labourers employed in the palm oil sector had spiked to an exorbitant level, so much so that it was no longer viable to employ them.

He said in the last Cabinet meeting on illegal and foreign workers it was decided that a temporary stop- gap measure to address the issue needed to be implemented quickly as it was affecting the industry.

“The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) has launched a worldwide competition that offers a US$1mil (RM4.3mil) grand prize.

“The objective of this contest is to find innovative machines that can improve how work gets done in oil palm plantations,” he added.

Mah said the winning inventions should be practical and cost-effective so that there would be less reliance on labour-intensive methods in harvesting, collecting and handling oil palm fruit.

The MPOB has received applications from six countries so far.