GEORGE TOWN: Opposition assemblymen will not be allocated the same funds as their government counterparts, Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow has reiterated.
“We will continue giving (lower) allocations to opposition representatives, as per our past practice,” he told reporters at Komtar today.
Government backbenchers are given RM500,000 a year, while opposition assemblymen receive RM60,000.
On Aug 29, Chow said all assemblymen, including those in the opposition, will be using the balance of the allocation from the previous 2018-2023 term as the new state government entered the fourth quarter of the year.
His statement came amid calls from a DAP MP for opposition lawmakers to be given equal allocations to manage their constituencies.
On Oct 25, Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun said opposition MPs must not be made to beg for more, as he recounted how he and his colleagues struggled to serve their constituents while being in the opposition.
Separately, Chow said his lawyers are working on documents for the lawsuit filed against tycoon Tan Kok Ping, the life honorary president of the Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce (PCCC), who Chow accused of defamation.
“(The preparation of the documents) will take a few weeks because it involves translating what was reported in Mandarin for the courts, which use Malay,” he said.
He said the lawsuit would not affect ties between the state and PCCC, stressing that it is personal, between him and Tan.
At a press conference on the now-cancelled land sale in Byram on Oct 18, Tan was reported as having described Chow as “incompetent, ignorant and shameless” for evading questions about the deal.
Chow had denied the accusation, saying the Penang Development Corporation, which he chairs, had furnished answers to all questions posed on the matter. - FMT
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