GEORGE TOWN: The Penang government has been urged to come clean on the status of its investigation into the fake awards scandal involving its two local authorities.
State Barisan Nasional Youth deputy chairman Rafizal Abd Rahim said the state government should also make public the outcome of the probe.
He said state Local Government Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow must keep to his promise to investigate the debacle.
"It has been quite some time and we have not heard anything. We are not asking this for ourselves, but on behalf of the Penang people who are awaiting eagerly to know the truth.
"This is because the fake awards scandal has really put us in a bad light, and the people are certainly not happy about it," he told newsmen at the state Gerakan headquarters yesterday.
The state BN Youth also showcased a faux life-sized Oscar statuette to be presented to the state government.
It was recently exposed that both the local councils were allegedly involved in receiving awards and recognition from the Europe Business Assembly (EBA), a dubious international organisation.
On March 26, 2013, it was reported that Datuk Pathahiyah Ismail, the then president for the Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) before being upgraded to Penang Island City Council (MBPP), would receive the Best Municipal Manager award while MPPP would receive the Best Municipality Award from EBA.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had in July that year also announced the impending receipt of the awards.
The then MPSP president Datuk Maimunah Mohd Sharif received similar awards the following year.
The Times recently reported that the EBA was an Oxford-based organisation selling "fake awards", or more widely known as "vanity awards".
The councils had also admitted to paying nearly RM40,000 as participation fees to the awards programme.
Rafizal also expressed disappointment that not even one of the 36 DAP members of parliament had raised the fake awards scandal in the ongoing Parliament session.
He said it was surprising that BN was the first to ask for an investigation into this, something the DAP MPs were good at doing.
“If this happens in a Barisan Nasional-led state, the DAP will surely come out and protest and call for investigations.
“But why don’t we see any DAP MPs uttering a word in Parliament about this fake awards scandals? All are silent about this.” he added.
keywords: Penang government, come clean, fake awards scandal, local authorities, Barisan Nasional Youth, Rafizal Abd Rahim