Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng went ballistic after five PKR state assemblypersons chose to abstain from voting on a motion put forth by an Umno leader.

The DAP secretary-general had some choice words for this action, describing it as betrayal and mutiny, with the latest being a possible coup within Penang PKR.

He claimed that their abstention was similar to supporting Umno and BN against the Pakatan Harapan state government.

The motion dealing with sea reclamation projects was rejected as it failed to get support from at least 21 of the 40 assemblypersons.

Guan Eng's father, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang has remained silent on the matter thus far.

But in 2002, the opposition leader stressed on the importance of respect when a similar situation unravelled among BN assemblypersons, when the ruling coalition was governing the northern state.

And this concerned a motion brought by then DAP assemblyperson Law Heng Kiang to defer the RM1.02 billion Penang Outer Ring Road (PORR) project.

Two MCA representatives Tan Cheng Liang (Jawi) and Lim Boo Chang (Datuk Keramat) had abstained, and this drew flak from their colleagues.

Kit Siang provided an in-depth analysis on the matter from the perspectives of then deputy prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who had warned the MCA duo of possible expulsion, as well as Umno, MCA and Gerakan.

The veteran leader also offered advice to the then MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik regarding the imbroglio.

"Ling could buy a bit of time for himself by submitting to the political blackmail of Umno by sacrificing the Penang duo and take disciplinary action against them or try to extricate himself from the present quandary by getting the Penang duo to voluntarily resign from the MCA ahead of the decision of the MCA presidential council.

"But these are dishonourable ways of exit which could not be delayed for too long in any event as Ling should be able to see the writing on the wall," he said.

"Ling should consider doing the most honourable deed as MCA president by going out with a bang if necessary, by defending the right of the Penang MCA duo to abstain in the DAP motion on PORR and to take a stand for a more tolerant and mature democratic culture where elected representatives, though bound by party policies, have liberty to vote according to their conscience and sense of justice as to whether a particular development project is beneficial or detrimental to the rights and interests of the people," he added.

Following this, Kit Siang cited former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's Vision 2020 and the nine strategic challenges to be overcome to achieve a developed nation status.

"The third of these nine strategic challenges is to develop 'a mature democratic society practising a form of mature consensual community-oriented Malaysian democracy that can be a model for many developing countries'.

"This third strategic challenge will be utterly meaningless if close to the mid-point of the 30-year Vision 2020, elected representatives cannot freely vote according to their conscience and sense of justice as to whether a particular project is good or bad for the people.

"DAP therefore calls on the BN and all its component parties to respect the right of the Penang MCA duo to abstain in the DAP motion on PORR in the Penang state assembly and to accept a mature, consensual and community-oriented Malaysian democracy as one of the nine strategic challenges of Vision 2020," he said.