FOR THE GREATER GOOD OF PENANG, GUAN ENG SHOULD GO BACK & LEAD THE STATE – AND CHOW KON YEOW, INSTEAD OF MOUNTING ANY INTERNAL FIGHTBACK, SHOULD MAKE WAY FOR A CLEARLY MORE DYNAMIC MB – AND THERE’S NO NEED FOR A ‘BACKUP’ PLAN TO PLACATE RACISTS – PENANGITES, WHATEVER THEIR COLOUR, SHOULD KNOW IT WAS GUAN ENG’S LEADERSHIP THAT PUSHED THE STATE TO WHERE IT IS NOW – REMEMBER HOW HARD UMNO-BN ULTRAS TRIED TO DISLODGE GUAN ENG IN THE EARLY DAYS AT KOMTAR WITH ONE RACIST ISSUE, FRACAS OR RALLY AFTER ANOTHER? WELL, HE DIDN’T QUIT & LOOK AT WHERE PENANG IS NOW!
Internal DAP push to oust Chow, re-install Lim as Penang CM
There is an internal push in DAP aimed at preventing Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow from returning to office after the upcoming state election.
The plotters instead want DAP chairperson Lim Guan Eng back at the helm of the state government.
Among those pushing for Lim to stage a comeback in Penang were three assemblypersons who want him to contest in the next state polls.
In a meeting with Malaysiakini yesterday, the trio – who declined to be named – claimed that Chow had been ineffectual as a chief minister.
“Chow is soft and sluggish in making decisions for the state, whereas Lim is seen as arrogant, but he performed as a strong leader of the state, referred to former chief minister Lim Chong Eu, who was a stern, strong, and straight forward leader,” one of them said.
“Chow has done nothing in his tenure as chief minister. The three south islands, the under-sea tunnel project and the Penang Transport Master Plan were all Lim’s brainchild,” they added.
The trio said Penang needed a strong and effective leader again particularly to face challenges posed by Kedah Menteri Besar Mohammad Sanusi Md Nor – should the latter return to office as well.
They also suggested a backup plan should a Lim chief ministership face resistance from the Malay community – who view the DAP chairperson as adversarial to them.
In such a situation, the trio said an interim chief minister can be appointed to serve for one or two years and allow the Malays to “cool down” before Lim takes over.
Separately, another DAP leader also observed that some DAP members preferred stronger leadership in Penang.
“Chow acts more like a civil servant (than a politician),” said the source who is based in the country’s south.
However, the sources Malaysiakini spoke to said they were unclear what Lim’s own position is on the matter.
Law obstacle
Despite the internal push, Penang law may prevent Lim from a third term as chief minister.
In 2018, Chow’s administration passed an amendment to Penang’s constitution that reads: “A member of the legislative assembly may be appointed as chief minister if they have not at any time held the position for two terms.”
In a recent interview with Guan Ming Daily, Chow – who is seeking a second term in office – said this meant the term limit law was retroactive – effectively blocking the path for another Lim chief ministership.
One of the assemblypersons supporting a change in leadership, however, believed otherwise.
“The law fails to state whether or not it is only effective after the passing of the bill, and whether someone who held the position before passing the law can be appointed,” they said.
They also suggested that even if the state constitution does block Lim’s return, the provisions could be amended to make an exception for the former finance minister.
Corruption case
Another possible stumbling block for the Bagan MP is his Penang undersea tunnel corruption case.
However, the trio believe Lim will be found innocent.
“If Lim is cleared in the tunnel project corruption case, there is no problem with him leading the state,” they added.
Lim is on trial over four graft charges involving millions in alleged kickbacks from the tunnel project.
Lim served as Air Putih assemblyperson for three terms, and was chief minister from 2008 to 2018.
He was also DAP secretary-general from 2004 to 2022, made possible due to the 2012 party poll results being voided, allowing Lim to be re-elected for a third term twice.
The DAP constitution has a three term-limit for the secretary-general post. MKINI
Will Guan Eng be back as CM of Penang?
Speculation is stirring that a more activist chief minister is needed and who else fits the mould than LGE.
In late 2018, the Penang legislature passed an amendment to the state constitution barring an incumbent chief minister from serving a third term in office.
By the time the amendment was passed Lim Guan Eng, the chief minister for two terms from March 2008 till May 2018, had safely transitioned from Penang CEO to federal finance minister.
On the political grapevine speculation is humming that the former chief minister may make a return to the office if it is interpreted that the constitutional amendment of November 2018 only disbars an incumbent from a third consecutive term.
Hence nobody is betting that Lim cannot come back.
Speculation he may come back has been given a fillip by rumours that relations between DAP chairman Lim and incumbent chief minister Chow Kon Yeow have been strained for some time.
In the cloudy world of intra-party policy disagreements and personnel preferences, it is fiendishly hard to say precisely what are the differences and who is rising and who may be slipping.
But things are not really nice and peachy between the party chairman and the state chapter head.
A more telling indicator of dissonance is the contrast in leadership styles.
Lim was an activist, assertive chief minister whereas Chow is dour and stolid.
Things got done on Lim’s watch simply from the chief minister telling state officers what purposes he wanted achieved on a given matter and what they ought to do to bring them to fruition.
Chow would rather want to hear the same officers on the viability of his objectives in a certain endeavour and take things from there.
One approach engendered activism, the other invited stasis.
Of course, before long observers commented on the differences in leadership styles and made their inferences.
A significant index was that the Malays did not seem to mind Chow but however much he did for their betterment, they did not warm up to Lim.
But Penang is better run under the DAP than under its predecessors, small matter if this was the case under the baton of Lim, and now under Chow.
The crucial question is whether Penang can configure a new paradigm of development, one that can fire the imagination of the non-Malays while not leaving the Malays adrift.
This is more realisable under a sympathetic central government which is what there is now, but the latter is having to tread very carefully.
Much too carefully for bold departures and new paradigms to make it matter, much that the new term of chief ministerial office is Chow’s or Lim’s. FMT
MKINI / FREE MALAYSIA TODAY
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