Clan council cancels CNY event with ‘heavy heart’
(The Star) – There will be no Chinese New Year Culture and Heritage Celebration by the Penang Chinese Clan Council (PCCC) next year.
Its chairman Anthony Chang said the decision to put on hold the annual event was due to the lack of cooperation and support from the Penang government.
“At first, we decided to let a new team from our youth section, PCCC Youth Committee, lead the working committee in planning the event,” he said yesterday at a press conference.
“But despite sending out several letters, there was no reply from the state government.”
Chang said the the annual celebration was a branding for Penang and popular with locals and tourists alike.
“However, after a meeting with all our committee members, we decided not to accept help from the Federal Government as we do not want the cultural event to be politicised,” he said.
Chang also claimed the relationship between the council and the state government turned sour when they tried to get back RM74,000 that the state owed them and claim the premises of 50, Love Lane.
Chang said it was not that the PCCC youth section was not capable of running the event but even if the event was to be held as scheduled, he feared the absence of cooperation from the state government might make the preparation more difficult.
PCCC Youth Committee chief Loh Boon Huan said that on Nov 22, the council gave the state seven days to respond if they wanted to work together to organise the celebration.
“But there has been no reply. So, with a heavy heart, we have decided to cancel the event for next year,” he said, adding that preparations were already 50% done.
“We are disappointed and apologise to the people. We hope they will understand our difficulties,” Loh added.
According to earlier reports, the council had announced Feb 18 for the event despite not getting any endorsement from the state government.
The celebration has been held in Penang annually since 1999.
When contacted, the Chief Minister’s political secretary Wong Hon Wai said the state respected the council’s decision.
