Now, Penang councillors want suspended PAS man sacked
(Malay Mail Online) – Fifteen Penang Island Municipal (MPPP) councillors today petitioned for Iszuree Ibrahim to be sacked entirely from the council, saying his suspension for “slandering” the state government was inadequate.
Speaking during a press conference at Komtar today, the group added that their number was sufficient to formally request that the state administration remove Iszuree from office.
“We believe Iszuree had slandered and made false accusations towards the state government in his speech where he likened the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state government to Barisan Nasional (BN),” said one of the DAP councillors Harvindar Singh.
“For us to submit any petition to the state government, we need a 50 per cent quorum so we have already met with enough quorum to submit the petition to the state government,” another DAP councillor Ong Ah Teong.
There are 23 councillors in the MPPP: 10 from DAP, eight from PKR, two from PAS and three from non-governmental organisations.
On Friday, the MPPP removed Iszuree from three permanent committees and suspended his councillor allocations over what is believed to be a Malaysiakini report categorising him as saying the state government was adopting BN’s pro-developer policies at the expense of the people.
Iszuree previously held a press conference to explain that he was merely calling on the PR state government to come up with a policy to help squatters who are being evicted by developers.
He claimed he was misquoted by the news portal, and posted the full text of his speech online and on Facebook to prove his point.
Today, Iszuree’s fellow councillors appeared unconvinced by his explanation, and continued criticising him over his reported remarks.
“What he said in his speech as reported in Malaysiakini is false as the new PR policy was not to issue any planning permission to developers for projects with squatters still living there,” Harvindar said.
He said Iszuree, who was in the council planning committee, is aware of this policy but still accused the PR state government of being pro-developer.
Though suspended, Iszuree is still a councillor and he can still attend full council meetings and perform his duties as a councillor.
In an immediate response to the press conference today, Iszuree replied in a text message to say: “they are [worse] than Umno BN. Bersifat zalim (Tyrannical)”.
He then added that Penang PAS secretary Mohd Fadzil Kemi will issue a statement later.
Mohd Fadzil told Malay Mail Online that the state chapter of PAS met on Saturday to discuss the issue, and decided it was best for state PAS commissioner Mohamad Sabu to meet with the Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to work out the matter.
He said the whole issue has been distorted and blown out of proportion due to subsequent reports based on the “erroneous” Malaysiakini report.
“We just wish to settle this whole issue internally and we will let Mat Sabu speak to Lim to resolve this,” he said.
He also hoped Malaysiakini will correct its erroneous report.
