PKR member feels ‘used’
(The Star) BUKIT MERTAJAM: A PKR supreme council member and a special assistant to a Penang executive councillor have owned up to meeting former party colleague Aminah Abdullah.
Lawyers Cheah Kah Peng and Peter Lim Eng Nam, however, denied any wrongdoing, saying they had met for lunch at Aminah’s house and the atmosphere was jovial and light-hearted.
“I feel sad because she has converted a perfectly bona fide chat into something that has turned ugly,” Cheah told a press conference yesterday.
Aminah created a storm when she claimed that two PKR leaders had offered her the Penang Municipal Council president’s post to withdraw from contesting the Penanti by-election.
She claimed that she was also offered the Penang Deputy Chief Minister I post to rejoin the party if she won.
She also claimed that she would be given RM80,000 as compensation for what she had spent so far in preparation for the May 31 by-election.
Cheah stressed that he and Lim, who is a special assistant to state Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry, Rural Development and Flood Mitigation Committee chairman Law Choo Kiang, went to Aminah’s place on her invitation.
He said they also went “in their own personal capacity” without representing any organisation, including PKR.
Cheah added that Aminah had during their lunch conversation expressed how good it would be to meet old friends and to possibly re-join the party.
“One of the things she implied during our chat was that she might not continue with her potential candidature in the by-election.
“She was inviting us to share our views on this matter. So, we gave her our two cents worth,” he said.
Cheah, who has been in PKR since 1998, said he got to known Aminah and her family a year later.
Lim, who is Batu Kawan PKR division deputy chief, said he got to know her in 2000.
They said they would visit her during Hari Raya and on other festive occasions.
Even after Aminah quit the party in 2007, Cheah said he and Lim kept in contact with her.
He said they attended her daughter’s engagement ceremony in March.
Lim said he was disappointed that Aminah, who had cooked for them, had also quietly recorded their conversation.
“I did not expect to be used this way. I feel sad and very hurt,” he said.
