Penang PAS leader Iszuree Ibrahim has been removed from all working committees in the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) following his criticism of the state government's squatter policy at his party's recent muktamar in Johor.

 

Iszuree, who is the state party's land bureau chief, said he received the letter from MPPP secretary Ang Aing Thye last night at 7pm.

 

The letter sighted by Malaysiakini stated that the decision to act against Iszuree was decided at a council meeting on Sept 25.

When contacted, state cabinet member in charge of local council Chow Kon Yeow said Iszuree remains a councillor and can still attend MPPP's full meetings held monthly.

He declined to elaborate on Iszuree's removal from the various working committees.

Iszuree when contacted by Malaysiakini said, "This action goes against the spirit of Pakatan Rakyat. We are supposed to be speaking about justice and freedom of speech but looks like it is not being practised here.

"BN is a cruel government and has lost seats during elections due to its actions. The same will happen to Pakatan if it acts unjustly like BN," he said.

"Now whenever people (in the state government) criticise, they get terminated. It happened to others, too," he quipped.

Disappointed with action

Iszuree, who had held the MPPP councillor post for four years said he will let the party decide  the matter and will act accordingly when the time comes.

He denied feeling disappointed at his loss but felt it was too excessive to terminate his appointments in all working committees with immediate affect.

"I have contributed ideas to improving the council and have some projects pending. Now the budget allocations to implement them have also been frozen," Iszuree said.

He had incurred the wrath of the state government when he proposed a squatter policy to address eviction cases by developers.

Iszuree had also urged the state government not to implement policies of the previous BN administration prior to 2008.

His speech at the muktamar was reported by Malaysiakini on Sept 19 with the headline 'PAS delegate says Penang pro-developer, like BN'.

However, Iszuree said he was misquoted in the report, adding he did not slam the state's housing policy but was merely proposing policies to address Penang’s squatter problems.