We talked, he proposed, I said no

Penang CM Lim Guan Eng is stupefied by Home Minister Zahid Hamidi’s claims he agrees to PPS becoming a community policing unit.

GEORGE TOWN: Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has expressed shock that Home Minister Zahid Hamidi had told the press he had consented to the Penang Voluntary Patrol Unit being revamped into a certified community policing unit.

While acknowledging that the two did meet to talk things over, Lim maintained that all he agreed to was for a working paper by the home ministry to be submitted to the state government so the matter could be discussed further.

”I did not say I agreed to the proposal. I only said to give us the working paper on it for the exco to consider,” Lim told reporters.

Zahid on the other hand was rather confident when he told reporters a somewhat different version of what transpired between the two.

According to Zahid, Lim had agreed to revamp the illegal PPS into a community policing unit, fully endorsed by the police.

He told reporters, “PPS will be replaced with a community policing (unit) similar to those in other states.”

He also stated his happiness at Lim’s willingness to find an amicable solution to the controversial PPS issue, adding, “I hope it can be implemented as soon as possible.”

Another issue of contention between Lim and Zahid involved the legal status of the PPS.

Saying the state government was adamant about challenging the home ministry’s decision to outlaw the PPS, Lim added, “The state’s stand on PPS has not changed.”

“He (Zahid) said the banning of PPS was initiated by the Attorney-General and I reiterated that we will challenge that in court to defend the 158 PPS members who were arrested.

Zahid’s ministry meanwhile is sticking to their guns in declaring the PPS an illegal organisation for not being registered with the Registrar of Societies as well as the issue that many of its members were involved in crime.

Talking to reporters outside Bukit Aman, Zahid said police have screened 9,000 PPS members and will announce soon enough the actual number of those involved in crime.