PKR ‘s MPSP members to boycott swearing-in of new president
(NST) – Seberang Prai Municipal Council (MPSP) members from Parti Keadilan Rakyat may boycott today's swearing-in ceremony for the new council president in protest against the state government's refusal to appoint their candidate to the post.
PKR's whip in the MPSP, Johari Kassim, said they might also resign as councillors while blasting Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng for allegedly running the state 'like his own backyard'.
Johari said Lim had failed to consult the PKR state leadership before deciding on who would succeed Farizan Darus as council president. Farizan assumed the post of the state financial officer recently.
Lim has on Sunday announced that he would propose Seberang Perai Utara district officer Mokhtar Mohd Jait to fill the post at yesterday’s state executive council meeting.
The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled to be held at MPSP headquarters in Bandar Perda this morning.
A banner opposing Mokhtar's appointment was erected at a junction near the MPSP headquarters today.
The banner reads: "An appeal by the Seberang Perai Pakatan Rakyat Movement to YAB Chief Minister, Datuk Zahrain, Deputy Chief Minister I Mansor Othman – we do not agree with a proposal to appoint a district officer who does not respect the state government decisions and its representatives at the district and state level".
The banner was removed by MPSP enforcement team.
Johari denied any knowledge of the banner but claimed that the other seven PKR councillors in MPSP are also against Mokhtar's appointment.
"We are standing by the state liaison committee decision early this year which insisted that the MPSP president’s post should be given to a candidate from PKR," he said.
It was earlier reported that PKR had proposed Mansor Othman but he has been appointed as the new Deputy Chief Minister I yesterday after winning Sunday’s Penanti by-election.
"We are very disappointed that the CM has gone behind PKR's back on this matter although it is his prerogative to decide on the candidate."
"He is running the state like a one-party state, like it is his own backyard," he said.
