'Poor performer' remark irks Penang chambers head

Penang Chambers of Commerce head Rizal Faris Mohideen is seeing red with PKR after being branded as a 'poor performer'.

According to PKR, this is the main reason for the state government's decision to axe the chambers' local council appointee for the next term.

Rizal (left), who is currently a local councillor on the island representing the chambers, chided PKR state chairperson Zahrain Mohd Hashim for not doing his homework before making such remarks.

"It's fine if PKR does not want the chambers to have a councillor. But the PKR leadership should not make baseless claims that I performed poorly.

"He (Zahrain) should not make me or the chambers as a scapegoat to enhance the party's interests," he told Malaysiakini.

Rizal was responding to Zahrain's recent comment that PKR had requested the Pakatan Rakyat state government to drop Rizal as a local municipal councillor for the next term based on an appraisal carried out by the party, and not due to political differences.

'NGOs made scapegoats'

Zahrain, who is also the MP for Bayan Baru, said the party wanted Rizal to be axed for his poor performance since being appointed last April.

Citing information received from PKR councillors and the public, the PKR leader blamed Rizal's frequent absenteeism from meetings and non-participation in policy decision-making process as main reasons.

There are seven NGO appointees as councillors - four on the island and three on the mainland, apart from current political appointees - 21 in Pulau Pinang Municipal Council (MPPP) and 22 in Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP).

Early this month, the state Pakatan Rakyat leadership decided to drop certain NGO-based councillors due to poor performance to make way for others.

Apart from this, both civil servant heads of the councils, and all five district officers, two in MPPP and three in MPSP, will be also dropped when the new appointments are made at the end of February.

Rizal, however, remained unconvinced with Zahrain's assessment, insisting that PKR planned to drop him to accommodate the demands of its members, who wanted to be appointed as councillors.

"Many senior PKR leaders feel they have been overlooked in the last appointment of councillors. Therefore those from the NGOs are being made scapegoats to pave way for them," he claimed.

Although he accepts that the Pakatan Rakyat government has the final say on the appointments, Rizal lamented that by dropping a chambers nominee, Malay entrepreneurs in the state would be denied a vital representative within the government structure.

The chambers, he said, represented all Malay entrepreneurs and bumiputera business interests in Penang.

"Now we may not have a voice to air our views in such an important local decision making body," he added.