DAP rep calls for stern action against PKR leaders

(Bernama) — Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s chief of staff Jeff Ooi wants Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) to take stern action against its members who, he claimed, were attempting to break up the Pakatan Rakyat coalition in the state.

Ooi, who is the Member of Parliament for Jelutong, said he hoped that PKR would take some affirmative action to resolve the issue relating to its members making personal attacks on Lim.

“I hope they (PKR) can make a decisive judgment on this issue so that the entire Penang state can move on under the Pakatan coalition,” he told reporters here today.

He was responding to a report today that the Penang DAP-PKR tiff had worsened after another PKR MP, Tan Tee Beng (Nibong Tebal), threw his support behind fellow party leader Datuk Zahrain Mohd Hashim (Bayan Baru MP) by labelling Lim as a leader without class.

Ooi said Tan and Zahrain shared the same problem of political frustration for having made their negative statements through the media.

“This is a classic case of political frustration. When they do not get whatever they desire, they start making noise,” he said.

He explained that Tan was not happy that the recommendation by his party for him to become the chairman of the Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP) and his intervention in the tender process of the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) to get his relative a shophouse lot were not fulfilled.

“We cannot accept all the recommendations and endorsements which have been made. We must consider putting the people first,” he said.

However, he said, the Pakatan coalition would make contingency plans for the Bayan Baru and Nibong Tebal constituencies to maintain the people’s support for the party.

Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister II P. Ramasamy welcomed the decision of PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to refer Zahrain to the party disciplinary committee.

“There is a proper forum to raise the issue, especially during the Pakatan meeting, and making it public is not the idea of Pakatan,” he said.

Last week, Zahrain said Lim was a dictator and a chauvinist and communist-minded while yesterday Tan expressed his support for Zahrain.

Tan went a step further by hitting out at his party leaders in the state government for failing to assert their position in the state Pakatan Rakyat.

He even warned that PKR would end up with nothing if the leaders were weak and continued to bend to Lim’s will.