Penang should no longer be associated with racial sentiments, Chinese has been in leadership role since Merdeka - Steven Sim

NIBONG TEBAL — The state of Penang has long been associated with Chinese leaderships roles since Malaysia gained independence, says Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) Steven Sim Chee Keong.

“The Penang’s governing body has always been a person from the Chinese community since we gained independence.

“There is no need to bring the outdated sentiment of race when it comes to Malaysian politics,” the Human Resources Minister said during PH’s Ceramah Perpaduan in Sungai Bakap

Sim said while campaigning for PH’s candidate Dr Joohari Ariffin from PKR after concerns were raised about the continuing stigma against people from the Chinese community ruling the state of Penang.

He also stated among the accusations received about having Chinese leadership was the inability to conduct Islamic traditions such as doing the prayer’s call (azan), where one of the complaints iterated a citizen not hearing azan Subuh (call to prayer during dawn) despite it was being carried out.

“We are pretty sure that he slept through the Subuh prayer,” Sim said playfully.

The Bukit Mertajam MP then tried to reconnect bridges with their former ally, stating that Pas was not the enemy and that the ruling party had friends from Pas.

“Our enemies are not from Pas or anything, it’s those people who want to practice assabiyah (group consciousness) considered as extremism by us,” he said.

He then reminded the crowd about the fate of the people in Kampung Tok Subuh when they were chased away during the eighth prime minister Tan Sri Mahiaddin Yasin’s administration during the pandemic.

“I handled the issue such as giving away 600 laptops and ensuring that each of them still has a house to live in though we did not get any allocation by the government at the time,” he said, highlighting that a “good government” should never run out of money when helping people.

The Election Commission has set July 6 as polling day for the Sungai Bakap state by-election, which will witness a straight fight between Joohari and Perikatan Nasional candidate Abidin Ismail.

Based on the Electoral Roll, as of last May 24, 39,279 people are eligible to vote in the by-election. They comprise 39,222 ordinary voters and 57 police personnel.

There will be np early voting centre will be opened on early voting day for the Sungai Bakar state by-election this July 2.

The Sungai Bakap seat was vacant after its incumbent Nor Zamri Latiff died at 1.38pm on May 24 at Seberang Jaya Hospital.