GEORGE TOWN: The DAP-led state government will be tabling an emergency motion, calling for the amendment of a state oppostion lawmaker's motion to cancel its massive 1,619 hectares land reclamation proposal.
Norlela Ariffin (Penanti -PKR) said the emergency motion under Standing Order Rule 34/1 would be presented by State Local Goverment committee chairman Chow Kong Yeow (Padang Kota - Dap) with her seconding it.
She said Muhammad Farid Saad (Pulau Betong - Umno) had submitted a motion calling for the the land reclamation to be cancelled and for the state to seek alternate funding for the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP).
"We cannot vote for the Umno motion which is too extreme but we wanted to still hold on to our principle and conscience of the people.
"So we tried to think out of the box and came up with this emergency motion to amend Farid's motion.
"I submitted the emergency motion to the Speaker Datuk Law Choo Kiang, two days ago and we discussed the motion with the state government and state oppostion lawmakers as it is their motion, which we are amending and everyone seemed to be in agreement," she said.
She noted that this would be the first time in seven years that lawmakers from across the political divide would unite.
Norlela said the amendments would change several words in Farid's motion.
"Our motion calls on the state government not to approve the RM27 billion PTMP until the Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment report is completed.
" We are also asking the state to find an alternate funding mechanism instead of reclaiming three artificial islands, to fund the Penang Transport Master Plan," she said.
She said they also proposed for the DEIA to be monitored and reviewed by the Penang Transport Council before any reclamation works begin and that Teh Yee Cheu (Tanjung Bungah-Dap) and the five PKR assemblymen be included into the Penang Transport Council.
"Now that state government is taking it up and presenting it, for me it is a win-win situation for the people of Penang," she said, adding that the the five PKR members and Teh had stuck to their conscience.
She said previously Teh had submitted an emergency motion but had failed to get any support.
"This time, we submitted the motion and lobbied for support to the extent that the state government has taken it up to present it themselves," she said.
Norlela is one of the five PKR assemblymen who had abstained from voting out an Umno motion on land reclamation last year.
The four others were Cheah Kah Peng (PKR-Kebun Bunga), Ong Chin Wen (PKR-Bukit Tengah), Dr T. Jayabalan (PKR-Batu Uban) and Lee Khai Loon (PKR-Machang Bubuk).
Teh had backed the Umno motion on reclamation when it was tabled and debated in but withdrew his support after 30 minutes.
Teh and the five PKR members drew flak from Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng who labeled them as “traitors and backstabbers” to Pakatan Harapan in Penang.
As a result, Cheah and Ong were dropped from their directors’ post in government-linked companies in Penang, while Teh resigned as the DAP State Organising secretary.