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Tuesday, 30 June 2009

Penang government sacks PKR councillor over boycott

The New Straits Times
By : Lee Keng Fatt and Adie Suri Zulkefli

GEORGE TOWN, Mon: THE DAP-led state government’s sacking of Parti Keadilan Rakyat councillor Johari Kassim from the Seberang Prai Municipal Council has set the stage for a showdown between the two parties in Penang.
Johari, with the backing of the state PKR leadership, has vowed to defy the termination order and attend a scheduled council meeting today.

“I was appointed by PKR to be a councillor, not by the DAP or the state government,” he said.

Johari said he would be attending the council meeting today as he has not been officially notified of the termination order.

“I have got the invitation from MPSP to attend the council meeting and I will attend it as usual.
“We will see what happens after that,” he said.

Johari said state PKR chairman Datuk Zahrain Hashim had assured him during a meeting last Saturday that PKR would not give in to any attempt to remove him from the post.

His defiance was backed by Zahrain, who made it clear that the party maintained its stand that Johari should not be sacked from the council.

“We have always maintained that stand. You have to ask the chief minister why he proceeded with the sacking despite us putting forth our stand,” he said.

Zahrain said he was informed of the state government’s decision by deputy chief minister I Dr Mansor Othman yesterday.

Zahrain, who is also Bayan Baru member of parliament, said he had conveyed the matter to the party’s central leadership.

“We are certainly not happy with it,” he said, adding that the party had also sent a letter to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng stating its stand on the matter.

State Local Government and Traffic Management Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow yesterday announced that the Penang state executive council had decided to revoke Johari’s councillorship.

Chow said the state exco had unanimously agreed to remove Johari during its weekly meeting last Friday and Johari could not appeal the decision.

On June 4, Johari led eight MPSP PKR councillors in boycotting the swearing in of former North Seberang Prai district officer Mokhtar Mohd Jait as council president.

Johari claimed that the position had been reserved for a PKR member and the state government had no business appointing anyone else to the post.

His action led DAP leaders, including Lim’s chief of staff Ooi Chuan Aun and political secretary Ng Wei Aik, to call for his resignation on grounds of insubordination.

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