GEORGE TOWN – Penang will leave it to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) national leadership council to decide what form of collaboration they would have with Barisan Nasional (BN) for the state election – scheduled to be held by the middle of this year.
Penang PH chairman Chow Kon Yeow said the state will provide its input, but the degree of collaboration between various parties needs more discussion and studies, as well as approval from the PH council.
Chow, who is Penang chief minister, said this when asked whether DAP, which is a key component of PH in Penang, would work with its former bitter rivals MCA, which is part of the BN coalition.
He said that the decision to work together lies with the top leadership.
“There are issues which may linger. I think each party needs to ask themselves how it plans to work with all parties under the auspices of the national unity government.”
On how the cooperation can exist on the state level, he said that on the national level, the national unity form of cooperation is already in existence. Therefore, this can be a reference for a starting point.
MCA and DAP have been bitter rivals for the past five decades in Penang and nationally.
Chow also spoke about the Covid-19 pandemic, saying the trend has been on the downward in the past few weeks, citing that the average number of daily cases is now down to 50 compared to the hundreds during its peak in 2020 and 2021.
“The trend is downwards but we need to maintain our vigilance.”
Chow also said that Penang will leave it to the Health Ministry to decide on what set of protocols to adopt in case tourists from China begin arriving soon.
China has relaxed on its zero Covid-19 policy by allowing its nationals to vacation overseas, but there is global concern following a detection of a new Omicron subvariant, which led to a spike of cases in the populous country of late.
State executive councillor for tourism, Yeoh Soon Hin said that Penang is looking forward to welcoming China tourists, but it would also be cautious about public healthcare.
Earlier both Chow and Yeoh attended the agreement signing between the Penang Centre of Medical Tourism (P MED) and Indonesian budget carrier Citilink at the G Hotel.
The agreement is designed to boost medical tourism in Penang while also offering Indonesian patients an easier route to seek medical treatment while holidaying.
P MED has 13 member hospitals with 2,500 beds collectively. – The Vibes, January 2, 2023
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