GEORGE TOWN – The upcoming state election in Penang, due by the middle of this year, may see a dark horse that will surprisingly influence the prospects of Pakatan Harapan (PH), which presently rules the state, and its rival parties in the number of seats they win.
Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM), long considered a left-wing socialist party, plans to make a big impression here by recruiting former PKR Youth chief Datuk Ezam Mohd Nor and green activist Teh Yee Cheu.
Ezam, who is now also PRM deputy president, and Teh, a former DAP member and Tg Bungah assemblyman, are likely to head the charge in Penang as an alternative to PH and opposition Perikatan Nasional (PN).
With Barisan Nasional (BN) expected to play a complementary role to PH in Penang, PRM sees a vacuum for a check and balance to the state government.
In a recent interview, Ezam and Teh confirmed that PRM will contest at least 15 state seats in Penang when the state election is called later this year.
Of the 15 seats, 10 are on the island and the rest are in Seberang Prai – a locality expected to be a battleground as PN won three parliamentary seats there in the 2022 general election.
On the island, PRM is eyeing Teluk Bahang, Air Putih, Tg Bungah, Kebun Bunga, Pulau Tikus, Seri Delima, Sg Pinang, Air Itam, Pantai Jerejak, and Batu Maung.
PRM has yet to announce which five mainland seats it is interested in.
Teh has declared that he is running for the Air Putih state seat, whose incumbent is DAP chairman and former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng.
Ezam, a former special officer of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, had been in the political wilderness for more than a decade before joining PRM and mulling contesting in Anwar’s birth state of Penang.
“We are focusing on Penang and Selangor in the state elections. There are calls for us to contest in Kelantan, but we have not decided on that. The seats we will contest in other states have not been finalised,” said Ezam.
In the last general election, PRM contested and lost in five parliamentary seats.
Question of democratic rights
Meanwhile, Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, who is also state PH chairman, senses that PRM may put up quite a competition here.
In response to Ezam’s claim that PH’s dominance in Penang had snuffed out the voices of democracy, Chow said it was unbecoming to make such remarks as Ezam used to be with the coalition’s main components, PKR and DAP, as part of the reform movement.
“On the contrary, PH is championing real democratic rights in Penang,” Chow said.
This came after four PN backbenchers were forced to vacate their state seats after the majority in the state assembly voted on the motion, citing the state’s anti-hopping legislation.
Seberang Jaya assemblyman Dr Afif Bahardin, Zulkifli Ibrahim (Sg Acheh), Khaliq Mehtab Mohd Ishaq (Bertam), and Zolkifly Md Lazim (Teluk Bahang) had won their seats on PH tickets in 2018, but their party Bersatu defected to PN in 2020 during the Sheraton Move that brought down the PH federal administration.
To this, Chow said: “Our anti-hopping law is to protect the voice and interests of the majority, and to ensure those elected are responsible in upholding the mandate.”
Even as he welcomed any party to contest in Penang as part of the democratic process, he admitted that PH still has much to accomplish in the state. – The Vibes, March 20, 2023
