GEORGE TOWN: DAP assemblyman for Tanjung Bungah, Teh Yee Cheu has claimed that the proposal to limit the term office for the Penang chief minister had been agreed upon by the party leadership and was contained in the DAP pledge before the 2008 general election.
Teh who showed a copy of the pledge written in Chinese to reporters, however, said the tenure stated in the pledge was for three terms.
“In the pledge, it was stated that if DAP were to form the government in Penang, the term of office for the chief minister should be limited to three terms to prevent abuse of power,” he told reporters outside the State Legislative Assembly hall, here, yesterday.
He said he was upholding that pledge and was of the opinion that the proposed term of office be considered as it was already in the DAP pledge.
Teh’s attempt to table a motion at the state assembly sitting this time, to limit the chief ministers’s tenure to two terms has been rejected on technical grounds.
This was his second attempt on the same motion after the first at the state assembly sitting in November 2015.
Penang DAP organising secretary, Wong Hon Wai in responding to Teh’s claim, said the copy of the pledge with Teh was only a draft.
“It (limiting the chief minister’s term of office) was not approved by the DAP leadership after getting the views of various quarters including lawyers.
“Teh was not present when the pledge was read out on March 6, 2008 at the Esplanade and there is no clause in the pledge mentioning the term of office (for the chief minister),” he said.
Wong also said that Teh had made the claim only to seek publicity for this issue which he had raised. — Bernama