A Penang municipal councillor, who had nodded off to sleep during the swearing-in ceremony yesterday, was spotted by the chief minister himself.

Lim Guan Eng then made the pointed remark in his speech that councillors have been given a 100 percent increase in their allowance.

Without naming the person, he said: "It is inappropriate (behaviour) and is not a good start (to the councillor’s tenure).”

"With the increased allowance up to RM3,000, there will be no more excuses for MPPP to not perform up to the people's expectations. Don’t play-play with the people. Do you understand or not?”

Councillors had previously been given a basic monthly allowance of RM700, as well as RM60 for attending meetings, for a maximum of 10. This gave them a total of RM1,300 a month.

Following the adjustment, the basic monthly allowance has been increased to RM1,500, while RM100 will be paid for attendance at each meeting, for a maximum of 12.

Councillors now also have a communications allowance of RM300. As a result, the monthly total has gone up to RM3,000.

While councillors are not legally compelled to provide full-time services, Lim expressed the hope that they would do so.

“Under the state's policy, a councillor cannot hold two government positions,” he said.

“For example, a councillor is not allowed to become an assistant to an assemblyperson (those on the government payroll) or a constituency coordinator, or to hold any main or paid post in the village and security development committee."

Lim also reminded councillors that their performance will be evaluated at every level of services, including whether or not they pick up and return calls.

"If the people find it difficult to contact you, the state government will not hesitate to terminate your services - and that includes NGO representatives - before your term ends," he warned.

DAP nominees not endorsed?

MPPP and the Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP) had issued their name lists for new councillors two days ago. There were eight new faces - five on the island and three in MPSP.

Two new MPPP councillors - Mohd Hariszuan Jaharudin and Connie Tan Hooi Peng - were said to have been appointed by the DAP leadership without getting endorsement from their respective divisions or parliamentary liaison committees (PLCs).

A similar situation had occurred last year with the DAP’s appointment of Nur Fitriah Abdul Halim as councillor. This year, she was dropped after she refused to continue serving, citing personal reasons.

Addressing the issue at a press conference, Chow Kon Yeow - the exco for local government - explained that DAP branches, divisions or PLCs and state leaders can submit nominations for councillors, but that the party is not obliged to accept the candidates.

"The decision is up to the selection committee," he said after the swearing-in ceremony.

"If the branch insists that (all its nominations must be accepted), then it’s status would be like that of the (party’s) central executive committee.”

On the appointment of only two women among 24 MPPP councillors, Chow said there were few candidates in the nominations list.

"So the DAP will encourage all PLCs to submit the name of at least one woman out of every four nominations," he added.