Spat intensifies between northern neighbours

GEORGE TOWN – Penang leaders continued to trade barbs with their northern counterparts over Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammed Sanusi Md Nor’s alleged statement that the state was on loan from its neighbour Kedah.  

Days after spearheading the state legislative assembly’s motion to censure Sanusi and to seek for him to apologise for making such remarks, DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng issued a statement seeking for voters in Penang to reject Sanusi’s party of PAS.  

Lim, who is the Bagan MP and Air Putih assemblyman, said that PAS and its coalition of Perikatan Nasional needs to be taught a lesson for their extremist insult of doubting Penang’s sovereignty.  

Penang voters must make PN and PAS pay a high price in the July state elections for their extremist insults of doubting Penang’s sovereignty and indirectly disputing the federal constitution’s legitimacy, he said.  

On an individual level, questioning the sovereignty of Penang is similar to questioning the citizenship of a Malaysian that has been granted by the federal constitution, he added.  

Sanusi had apparently laughed off a motion passed unanimously by all 36 state assemblymen, including the lone Penaga assemblyman from PAS, in the state assembly on March 7 to censure him for doubting Penang’s sovereignty.

“Sanusi should not try to confuse the issue of doubting Penang’s sovereignty with Kedah and demanding higher land lease payments for Kedah from the federal government. 

“Sanusi is free to seek higher lease payments but why dispute Penang’s sovereignty in the process," said Lim.  

As Lim issued his statement, PAS Alor Star passed three motions at its annual general meeting at Sekolah Rendah Integrasi Teras Islam (Sriti) Darul Ulum at Tandop,  where they unanimously supported Sanusi on three grounds.  

The grounds are as follows:

1. to seek compensation from Penang for the raw water supplied from the Sg Muda river which shares a boundary water line with its northern neighbour.
2. to defend the state’s stance that Penang is indeed a state loaned from Kedah and the Federal Government needs to upgrade the annual compensation from RM10 million per annum to RM100 million annually.
3. to support the construction of the Kulim Aeorotropolis International Airport, which is designed mostly for the movement of air freight around the region.

The statement was signed off by Alor Star MP Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden, who was once Sanusi’s political secretary. – The Vibes, March 12, 2023