DAP's Tanjung Bungah rep Teh Yee Cheu (centre) resigns as the party's Penang organising secretary after supporting a motion by the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the state assembly last week. – The Malaysian Insider pic, November 25, 2015.DAP's Tanjung Bungah assemblyman Teh Yee Cheu has resigned as the party's Penang organising secretary for supporting a motion by the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the state legislature.
Penang DAP state secretary Lim Hui Ying announced Teh's resignation from the post today, adding that it took effect on November 23.
“In his resignation letter, Teh Yee Cheu informed the party that he has decided to resign over his support of the Umno motion on reclamation at the Penang State Assembly on 20 November 2015,” Lim said in a statement today.
Teh had initially voted to support the BN motion but then quickly admitted his mistake and apologised.
He also declared that he was willing to face punishment from the party.
State DAP deputy chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo yesterday hailed Teh's apology and said it should be taken as a mitigating factor in his punishment.
Penang's DAP government, led by chief minister Lim Guan Eng who is also the party's secretary-general, has been criticised for not allowing assemblymen to vote according to their conscience and in the people's interest.
The motion Teh had originally supported was moved by BN assemblyman Muhamad Farid Saad to compel the state government to subject land reclamation projects to public hearings.
Farid also asked for all new land reclamation projects to be put on hold pending a detailed study to ensure such projects would not be detrimental to the environment, and to cancel projects that negatively impacted the environment.
The motion was dismissed after it was put to a vote and failed to get support from the majority of the House. Only 10 members from the House supported it – nine from BN and one from DAP, while 23 from Pakatan Harapan voted against it.
But five PKR assemblymen had abstained from voting, a move which has now created controversy in the state government and which appears to be straining ties between DAP and PKR, who are allies in the Pakatan Harapan opposition pact.
The five PKR backbenchers who abstained were Ong Chin Wen (Bukit Tengah), Cheah Kah Peng (Kebun Bunga), Lee Khai Loon (Machang Bubuk), Dr T. Jayabalan (Batu Uban) and Dr Norlela Ariffin (Penanti).
PKR information director Fahmi Fadzil yesterday said the party was satisfied with the explanations by the five. Fahmi said conscience votes were normal in a democracy and should be encouraged.
But Jagdeep yesterday said while the Penang government allowed its assemblymen to say their piece and would not prevent any of them from stating their views and opinions, it was different when it involved voting on administrative issues.
"But when it comes to voting en bloc on administrative issues, they (the PKR five) should have walked with the state government," he had said.
State DAP chairman Chow Kon Yeow has also questioned why the five did not debate the motion if they wanted "to let their voices of conscience be heard". – November 25, 2015.
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