New faces appointed to Penang city council

BUTTERWORTH – A long-time personal assistant of PKR's Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin was made a councillor with the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) here in a new list of councillors approved by the state government today.

Chan Soon Aun, popularly referred to as Cikgu Chan due to his previous occupation as a teacher, had served Sim for the past two terms. He was also an assistant with former Batu Uban assemblyman Datuk Dr T. Jayabalan from PKR.

He will serve for the term from next month until December, next year.

Chan replaces the PKR veteran Francis Joseph, who had served in MBPP since 2008.

Other veterans who made way were Tan Seng Keat (PKR) and Harvindar Darshan Singh (DAP).

State exco for local government H’ng Mooi Lye made the announcement yesterday at the Dewan Kenanga in the Seberang Prai City Council (MBSP) headquarters in Bandar Perda.

H’ng urged the councillors to do their best in view that the ratepayers' expectations are high.

Barisan Nasional through Umno also made a comeback to local government where the state allotted three councillors' slots for them for both MBPP (one) and MBSP (two).

The party will name the councillors later in the year.

There are 13 new faces, aside from 11 who were retained for the annual term of 2023/2024. 

The MBPP councillors’ appointments were witnessed by the Lord Mayor and MBPP president Datuk A. Rajendran.

Businessman Wong Ming Ewe said that MBPP has its work cut out because many infrastructure projects will be rolled out by the state this year and the next – from the proposed light rail transit (LRT) to the construction of the three highway bypass roads.

Such projects would add on to the congestion that Penang is experiencing daily, and the council needs to be responsive to the concerns expressed by the ratepayers, he said.

The list of the councillors, except from Umno, is as follows:

1. Abdul Latiff Mohamad (PKR)
2. Chan Soon Aun (PKR)
3. Tan Chiew Choon (PKR)
4. Mohd Suhairi Arumugam Abdullah (PKR)
5. Hari Krishnan Ramakrishnan (PKR)
6. Shafiz Rahim Raja (PKR)
7. Mohd Roshidi Roslan (PKR)
8. Ooi Mei Mei (PKR)
9. Alan Lim Wei Lun (DAP)
10. Benji Ang Ming Quan (DAP)
11. Choong You Ray (DAP)
12. Koay Gaik Kee (Gueno) (DAP)
13. Lee Seng Hwai (DAP)
14. Quah Boon Lim (DAP)
15. Rohaizat Hamid (DAP)
16. Tan Soo Siang (DAP)
17. Theng Jie Wey (Nicholas) (DAP)
18. Vickneson Rajendran (Soresh) (DAP)
19. Mohd Hafiz Abdul Aziz (Amanah)
20. Mohd Faruk  Abdul Rahman (Amanah)
21. Saiful Azwan Abd Malik (Amanah)
22. Bakar Noordin (Amanah)
23. David Chen Wooi Teong (Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce/NGO) – The Vibes, September 29, 2023