A journalist from a Tamil language daily is among 48 municipal councillors for 2012-2013 appointed by the Penang state government yesterday.

NONEIn announcing the names, Penang executive councillor for local government Chow Kon Yeow (left) said in Komtar that S Guanalan, 46, has been a member of the DAP since 1990.

He is the party's Taman Inderawasih, Prai branch secretary as well as the organising secretary of the Batu Kawan liaison committee.

Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy is the Batu Kawan MP and Prai assemblyperson.

Guanalan is a part-time staff of the Makkal Osai newspaper, and was present as a delegate at the recent party convention in Butterworth last month.

No additional expectations

Chow, who is Tanjung MP, was asked if the appointment of a journalist into the Seberang Perai Municipal Council would give rise to ethical problems or conflicts of interest.

The state DAP chief was also questioned on the expectations of the state government towards the journalist for appointing him to the post.

"There are no additional expectations. He should know the ethics of journalism and there are also guidelines within the council which he should follow," Chow told reporters.

Guanalan was among several delegates who tried to speak out at the state convention, where tension rose over the warlord-godfather spat between Ramasamy and DAP national chief Karpal Singh.

During the event, Guanalan was prevented by party security personnel from speaking when he tried to defend Ramasamy, who got a bashing from Karpal over his remarks which allegedly targetted party elders.

Guanalan said he has yet to decide if he should quit his job as a journalist to focus full-time on his work as a councillor.

He added that he did not foresee any ethical problems as he has always been "cautious and careful" in his writings as a journalist.

Little change

Meanwhile, Chow declared that the appointment of the councillors was in line with Section 10 of the 1976 Local Government Act, which states that the state should not appoint less than eight or more than 24 individuals for each council - in Penang (MPPP) and Seberang Perai (MPSP).

On the MPPP list, political appointments include 10 (DAP), eight (PKR) and two (PAS).

NONEFormer PKR Bukit Gelugor division chief Lim Boo Chang (left), who quit his councillor's post last month has been replaced by Ng Chek Siang, the party's state Youth election bureau chief.

As for MPSP, political appointments include 10 (DAP), nine (PKR) and two (PAS).

"In the MPSP list, there are three new appointments for DAP as three former councillors have been dropped from the list due to personal reasons," Chow said.

One of the of the resignations came from M Ramachandran, who has taken up the post of executive director at the Hindu Endowment Board.

No increase in NGO quota

Meanwhile, the quota for NGOs - seven councillors - have remained unchanged since 2008.

The state government, however, has retained social activist Lim Mah Hui, despite his criticisms against MPPP over the controversial sPICE (subteranean Penang International Convention and Exhibition Centre).

Mah Hui, broke ranks with his colleagues in the council, to oppose the RM50 million for the project in Bayan Baru, which detractors claim was more beneficial to developers than Penangites.