DAP-PKR feud nothing new: Penang Gerakan

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PENANG: The simmering feud between DAP and PKR leaders in Penang has been existing since they took over the state from Barisan Nasional after the general election in 2008, said Penang Gerakan chairman Datuk Dr Teng Hock Nan.He said the Pakatan coalition was a marriage of convenience to suit the purpose of their leaders and not of the party, let alone the people.

“They are showing their true colours now and there are signs that the coalition is cracking,” he said in a statement here yesterday.

He was commenting on the outburst Thursday by Bayan Baru MP and former Penang PKR chairman Datuk Seri Zahrain Mohd Hashim, describing Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng as a “dictator, a chauvinist and communist-minded”.

State opposition leader Datuk Azhar Ibrahim believes that Zahrain has tolerated Lim’s dictatorial ways for quite some time before making the statement to the media.

“I was informed that the PKR and PAS leaders had no authority to state their views during the state executive council meetings,” he told Bernama when contacted here yesterday.

He said it was sad to know that PKR and PAS who represented the Malay community in the state had no authority and influence in the state government.

“It appears that the Penang government is a one-man government as others are not allowed to comment on Lim’s decisions,” he said.

However, state MCA deputy chairman Eng Hiap Boon said Zahrain’s outburst was just a show to earn PKR a bigger role in the DAP-led state and to show to the Malay community and voters that they were working.

Zahrain was  reported to have said on Thursday that Pakatan should stop compromising with the leader who is from Malacca as Lim had failed to deliver its general election promises.

He said Lim did not like to be criticised and he was quick to label those who criticised him as Barisan Nasional agents.

This was not the first time that Zahrain had hit out at Lim.

In April last year, he took Lim to task over the appointment of Deputy Chief Minister 1 and the resignation of Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin as Penanti assemblyman. — Bernama