BUKIT MERTAJAM, 23 Jan 2009: Penang Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) liaison committee dropped three state executive councillors from its line-up and appointed several leaders into the committee to strengthen the party in the state.
Penang PKR chairperson Datuk Zahrain Mohamed Hashim said the three – Deputy Chief Minister Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin, Law Choo Kiang and Abdul Malik Abul Kassim – were dropped to enable them to concentrate on their state administration duties.
Mohammad Fairus and Law were previously deputy liaison chairpersons while Abdul Malik was the secretary.
Balik Pulau division chief Dr Mansor Othman, Deputy Speaker Tan Hock Leong and state PKR election director Mustafa Kamal Mohd Yusoff have been appointed to replace Mohammad Fairus, Law and Abdul Malik respectively, he told reporters after chairing the state PKR liaison committee meeting last night.
He said the meeting also appointed Nibong Tebal Member of Parliament (MP) Tan Tee Beng as information chief, Balik Pulau assemblyperson Mohd Yusmadi Mohd Yusoff as state PKR Youth chief and Norhayati Jaafar as state PKR Wanita chief.
Zahrain said a special committee headed by Dr Mansor had been set up to monitor the performance of PKR executive councillors, assembly members, MPs and council members.
“Those who perform badly will be dropped from the line-up in the coming term,” he said, adding, however, that the move to drop the three had nothing to do with performance but rather, to enable them to concentrate on the state administration.
Meanwhile, Zahrain expressed the hope that PKR would be given bigger roles in the state administration and agencies.
He called on the state government to increase PKR representations in statutory bodies and in government-owned as well as government-linked companies.
He also expressed dissatisfaction over several of the state government’s decisions which, he said, were made without consulting the party, such as the appointment of former Gerakan leader Datuk Lee Kah Choon as InvestPenang executive chairperson.
Relations with the DAP and Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng remained good, he said.
“We enjoy excellent relations but as a party, we do need to state our requests. This is normal.” — Bernama
