Chow unlearns lesson of discretion being the better part of valour

 

From Terence Netto

The relationship between DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng and the party’s Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow could be equated to a rent garment.

The more one fusses with it the worse the tear becomes.

That was just what happened when Chow, incumbent chief minister of Penang, decided last weekend to vent his feelings over an alleged plot to oust him.

Not surprisingly, this brouhaha drew a stern riposte from Lim on Monday.

Lim called on Chow to furnish proof of the existence of the plot or else to clamp up.

For some time before the state election on Aug 12, the grapevine has been humming with word of intramural tensions within Penang DAP.

The tensions stemmed from what was rumoured to be dissatisfaction in the chapter with Chow’s stewardship of the state.

He was said to be overly acquiescent to the state civil service and consequently not assertive enough on the party’s interest and vision for the state.

Lim was said to be chafing about Chow’s leadership on this score.

As rumours of disgruntlement waxed expectations of a return by Lim to the chief minister’s post mounted in the prelude to the state election.

Ambiguity over the legality of such a return, given a December 2018 state constitutional amendment that limits a chief minister to two terms – which Lim had already served (2008 to 2018) – only fomented more uncertainty about Chow’s prospects of a second term as CM.

He had supplanted Lim after the 2018 state election and was set to strengthen his position heading into a second term.

But the party’s slate of candidates for the Aug 12 election had more of Lim’s surrogates than Chow’s placemen.

Speculation then swirled over Chow’s ability to manoeuvre within a cohort less favourable to him.

In this circumstance the last thing one would expect is for Chow to be embroiled in a controversy over the sale of land in Batu Kawan at below market rates to a commercial concern.

Not even an assurance from Chow that he would make a clean breast of things on the land sale could still the inevitable rumours of malfeasance.

But before a finding could be made on the propriety of the sale, Chow, putting valour before discretion, mouthed off on a plot to oust him.

Nobody needed to guess who the unsaid target of Chow’s mouthing-off was.

Not one to let matters simmer in the realm of innuendo, Lim rebuked Chow for failure to substantiate his allegations.

Rattled by doubts over the land deal and dressed down by the party chairman, the normally circumspect Chow must be wondering where matters had gone astray for him.

Better to leave sleeping dogs lie than rouse them to dudgeon. - FMT

Terence Netto is a senior journalist and an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.