Pakatan tiff ‘shows their inexperience’

(NST) BUTTERWORTH: Stop politicking and get real work done.

This was the terse message from Butterworth folk to the Pakatan Rakyat state government following a tiff between Parti Keadilan Rakyat and DAP over the appointment of the Seberang Prai Municipal Council president.

They said the behaviour of the leaders of the two parties reflected their weaknesses and lack of experience to resolve internal problems.

Lee Chiew Meng, 45, a sales executive of Taman Inderawasih, said the people voted in the PR to serve their needs and they should not waste their time on internal bickering.

"The in-fighting shows that there is no mutual understanding among the PR parties.

"It is time for the top party leadership to step in to resolve the issue immediately."

He said the council would fail in its duty to serve the ratepayers if the conflict among the municipal councillors was not addressed.

Lawyer Jagjit Singh said Penang looked more like a DAP state rather than a PR state.

"Where is the unity among all the component parties in the coalition?

"The PR will have a tough time going back to the people in the next general election if they are unable to resolve their problems," he said.

Marketing executive Norhayati Abdul Wahab, 43, said as ratepayers, the people expected the council to end its conflict and serve the people efficiently.

Eight of the nine PKR councillors had boycotted the swearing-in ceremony of former Seberang Prai Utara district officer Mokhtar Jait as president of the council on June 5.

Chief PKR whip Johari Kassim was blamed for the boycott as he had stated that a representative from his party should have been appointed to the post.