GEORGE TOWN: Penang PKR has written to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to be exempted from the allocation freeze, citing that the assemblymen had to attend the party's state convention on April 28.
This was following the decision by Penang State Executive Council meeting to freeze ‘Outright Grant’ allocations to all state assemblymen that were absent during the swearing-in of the state governor on the same day without a valid reason.
Penang Deputy Chief Minister I Mohd Rashid Hasnoon, in a statement today, said those affected were encouraged to write in to the chief minister to explain why they had missed the event.
“They can write an appeal to the CM to explain why they were absent from the event such as those who were overseas and had special approvals,” he said.
In the meantime, Mohd Rashid dismissed Penanti assemblyman Dr Norlela Ariffin's claims on her Facebook page that her authorised allocations had been withheld.
He explained that the freeze meant that the allocation would not be transferred directly to the assemblymen's accounts.
Instead, they would have to request for the allocation through the Chief Minister’s office.
Two Barisan Nasional representatives, a few other PKR assemblymen, and three DAP assemblymen – state exco Chow Kon Yeow, Soon Lip Chee (Jawi) and Lydia Ong (Berapit) were among those that were absent from the Yang di-Pertua Negri Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas’ swearing-in ceremony.