DAP Teh's bid to debate limit to CM's tenure rejected by speaker

DAP Tanjung Bungah assemblyperson Teh Yee Cheu's application for a motion to debate the term limit for the chief minister's post has been rejected by Penang Legislative Assembly speaker Law Choo Kiang.

Teh said he was not informed of the reason why the application for the controversial motion was rejected.

Asked if the state assembly was still practising democracy after rejecting his application, Teh merely replied, "It's a process we have to go through.

"The speaker has the right to reject my application. But I complied with all the guidelines when applying for the proposed motion, it's all very simple."

Undaunted by the rejection, he said he would re-submit his application at the next sitting, which will be called in six months.

In a letter to Teh last week, Law said his application was rejected on technical grounds as he did not state the appropriate sections in the state constitution to support his proposed motion.

Met at the state assembly today, Law said Teh could write to the members of the state constitution committee about his motion.

Teh has been campaigning for the chief minister's post to be limited to two terms, saying it was a democratic practice in other developed countries.

The controversial DAP representative received brickbats for suggesting the contentious motion as Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who is also DAP secretary-general, would have served two terms by 2018.

However, Teh has urged his comrades not to be oversensitive about the matter as he would have raised the issue of term limit for the prime minister as well, if he were a parliamentarian.-Mkini