GEORGE TOWN: Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow the performance of the state’s newly appointed executive councillors will be closely monitored.
He said if necessary in future, a reshuffle was possible as under the Westminister parliamentary system, the chief executive, in this case the chief minister, can reshuffle the line-up.
Chow, however, stressed that none was needed at the moment.
“If necessary, a reshuffle can be made, if needed, but I am not saying it is needed now.
“Let us focus on the current executive councillors, we will listen and monitor their performances,” he said in a press conference after a walkabout at Lebuh Campbell here today.
The newly minted chief minister came under fire after he maintained status quo on the executive councillor seat allocation among the Pakatan Harapan pact after winning the 14th General Election.
Currently, there are seven DAP assemblyman and three from PKR, excluding the chief minister. None were from Parti Amanah Negara (PAN) and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) despite winning two seats each.
The outspoken PKR Penanti assemblyman Dr Norlela Ariffin said that the state executive councillors were imbalanced and benefitted only one party.
She pointed out that DAP, which contested and won all 19 state seats, got the Chief Minister’s post, Deputy Chief Minister II post and six state executive councillors.
On the other hand PKR, which contested and won all 14 state seats, only got the Deputy Chief Minister I post and two state executive councillor seats.
“If we add together PKR, PPBM and PAN’s state seats, all three contested and won 18 seats, which is almost parallel to DAP’s 19,” she said few days ago.
She also added that the main portfolios, such as housing, flood mitigation and local government, remained the same and were not shared with others.
The sentiment was shared by Penang PKR chairman Datuk Mansor Othman.