PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu will meet Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng on October 2 to resolve the controversial suspension of a town councillor from the Islamist party, Iszuree Ibrahim.
Iszuree’s temporary removal from three standing committees in the Penang municipal council has caused tempers to flare that could jeopardise already tenuous ties between the two Pakatan Rakyat (PR) allies at the national level. Lim is also the DAP secretary-general.
“We hope after Mat Sabu meets with Lim, this whole issue will be resolved,” PAS land bureau chairman Mazlan Aliman told reporters here today, referring to Mohamad by his popular nickname.
Malay Mail Online understands that Mohamad, who is also Penang PAS chief, will be asking for Iszuree’s reinstatement even as other municipal councillors from PR call for the latter’s sacking.
Mazlan said he hoped the Penang state government would also unfreeze Iszuree’s allocation as a councillor.
Iszuree was suspended from three town council standing committees — planning, finance and public health and cleanliness — and had his councillor’s allocation frozen by the council last Friday.
This was following a hue and cry over his speech at the PAS muktamar which was published on Malaysiakini on September 19 with the headline “PAS delegate says Penang pro-developer, like BN”.
The article quoted Iszuree as saying the DAP state government was adopting BN’s pro-developer policies at the expense of the people.
Iszuree, who was also at the same news conference with Mazlan, denied he had likened the Penang PR state government to the Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government and accused the news portal of misquoting him.
“I was raising a long-standing issue where villagers are being evicted from their homes and I wasn’t provoking the state government nor did I say it is like BN,” he said and demanded the news portal publish a correction.
Mazlan also defended Iszuree’s speech, saying the Penang Island Municipal councillor’s remarks also represented the party’s views and not only his own.
Mazlan, along with Penang PAS secretary Mohd Fadzil Kemi, insisted that the crux of the whole issue is the plight of villagers being evicted by developers.
“We only want the state government to come up with a policy to ensure that these villagers get a house each as compensation and not be oppressed by the developers,” the duo said.
Though suspended, Iszuree is still a councillor and he can still attend full council meetings and perform his duties as a councillor.
A total 15 councillors from DAP and PKR signed a petition which was submitted to the state government to demand that Iszuree be sacked.
There are now a total 23 councillors in MPPP, 10 from DAP, eight from PKR, two from PAS and three from non-governmental organisations.
Malay Mail Online understands that the state executive councillor will be holding its weekly meeting and may be discussing the petition by the councillors tomorrow.-Malaymail
