Lim (left) hugging Chow after winning the P043 Bagan parlimentary (DUN) N23 Air Putih state seats while Chow won the P049 Tanjong parliamentary and DUN N26 Padang Kota state seats during the May 9 elections. — Bernama photo
GEORGE TOWN: Penang DAP chairman Chow Kon Yeow is expected to be sworn in as the fifth chief minister of the state, succeeding Lim Guan Eng who has been named the new finance minister.
A senior DAP assemblyman said the DAP’s succession plan for the Penang Chief Minister’s post was planned much earlier and everything would now follow according to plan.
“In all likelihood, he (Chow) will be the person to take the oath (as chief minister) on Monday but in politics, anything can happen and let’s wait for the official announcement from the party,” he told Bernama when contacted here yesterday.
He said Lim, who was also party secretary-general, had indicated many times that Chow would be his successor as chief minister.
In fact, Lim had indicated during Penang’s candidate announcement for the 14th General Election (GE14) that the decision to field Chow in both the Tanjong parliamentary seat and Padang Kota state seat was part of a succession plan.
Earlier, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had announced three key Cabinet members, namely Lim as Finance Minister, PBBM president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as Home Minister and Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, Defence Minister.
On how the Penang Executive Council (exco) line-up would look like, Chow, who is three-term DAP assemblyman said there might be some changes from last term’s line-up and two DAP exco members – Lim Hock Seng and Danny Law Heng Kiang had decided to retire after close to three decades in politics.
“The new exco line-up might also include at least two new faces but nothing has been finalised yet,” he said, adding that the Exco line-up would comprise representatives from DAP, PKR, PPBM and Amanah.
However, the DAP leader said the incoming chief minister first needed to take his oath at the residence of the Penang Yang di-Pertua Negri Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas in Sri Mutiara before the announcement of the Exco line-up.
Invitations have been sent out for the swearing-in ceremony of the incoming chief minister at 10am on Monday, in Sri Mutiara.
It is learnt that after the swearing-in ceremony of the chief minister, the announcement of the new state exco members would be held on Wednesday.
In the just-concluded GE14, Pakatan Harapan, which comprises DAP, PKR, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) and Parti Amanah Negara (PAN), won 37 state and 11 parliamentary seats in Penang.
Barisan Nasional only managed to win two state seats and two parliamentary seats while another state seat was won by PAS. — Bernama