13 April 2018

Press statement by MCA Penang State Liaison Committee Secretary Dr Tan Chuan Hong

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Dr Tan Chuan Hong: Penang Govt forcefully demolished awning without considering public safety

MCA Penang State Organising Secretary cum Bagan Division Secretary Dr Tan Chuan Hong today strongly condemned DAP state government in abolishing the awning here in Medan Melur Utara, Butterworth. He said such an act is ignoring the public safety, not respecting the life of the local residents and hegemony.

He said in a statement today, the awning was set up by a group of kind residents here by donation. It serves the purpose of protecting the preachers of NaDuGong here from the rubbish thrown from top. Besides, the awning also provides shelter for the public all the time form rainy days to sunny days. Unfortunately, this awning was abolished by MPSP under a directive from the top leader.

He felt unsatisfied because there is no traffic blocking issues caused by the awning and the volunteers in Medan Melur Utara are taking good care of the cleanliness and hygiene of the surroundings. It is all good time business for all the stakeholders here.

Dr Tan gives those young volunteers the thumbs up due to of willingness and proactiveness to serve the public. They distributed the floor aids on 26.11.17 and provided free services to the people to register/updates their BR1M 2018 accounts on 18.12.17. The young volunteers here also stayed on to have buffer lunch with the rest after the preaching ceremony of NaDuGong on 10.12.2017.They already shown a good examples on volunteerism to the youth.

But all these efforts are just “a drop in the bucket” in the eyes of the DAP leaders as the activities here were only attended by him and local MCA leaders.

Dr Tan further explained that MPSP enforcement officers came at 7pm on 18.12.2017 to abolish the awning which is an hour before we start to help the public to register/updates their BR1M accounts. Mr Ong Han Beng also called YB Phee Boon Poh to request for coordination but YB's reply was that “he would be handcuffed if he were to help them”. Dr Tan stressed that only those who take bribery and misuse power will be handcuffed. Helping the people sincerely would not be handcuffed. He hopes YB Phee will stop acting in this incident and cut all hypocrisy in dealing with livelihoods issues.

Dr Tan also refuted the remarks by CM Lim which says that there is no oppression of the people. This incident clearly showed that it is just another good example of say one thing and do another. He urged CM Lim to show real concern and to restructure the life-saving awning as soon as possible.

Dr Tan urged the local authority to legalise the setting up of the awning due to public safety and no point in arguing over this matter because the damage has been done. Meanwhile he also assured that Bagan MCA Division will help the residents in collecting donations to set up the awning after it is legitimised.

Dr Tan Chuan Hong

MCA Penang State Liaison Committee Secretary

-MCA Online-