Dr Lim Mah Hui and the Penang Forum should stop labelling the Penang state government’s criticisms of their methods and justification as an attack on civil society.

As mentioned many times, we have never had an adversarial stand towards Dr Lim and the Penang Forum but for an organisation that advocates democracy and is now criticising the Penang state government’s Transport Master Plan, they should know that as much as they can criticise the Penang state government, the Penang state government and other members of the public have the right to criticise them as well.

Freedom of speech goes both ways. If you want to criticise, be ready to receive criticisms yourself. Your rights are the same as ours. The criticisms on the Penang Forum has even gotten a reply from Dr Kua Kia Soong who ended his article that the Penang State Government should stop behaving like “crybabies” and claims that the Penang Forum is a quintessential civil society. So does Dr Kua mean that the Penang Forum should then be immune to criticisms?

What do Dr Lim, Dr Kua and the Penang Forum mean by an “attack”? Did any member of the Penang state government abuse their power to politically persecute them? Just because we criticise their points of view, this is interpreted as an “attack”? Now who is the one being the crybaby?

Dr Lim, Dr Kua and the Penang Forum should appreciate the fact that the Penang state government is willing to debate and engage, the previous BN administration would outright ignore them. All of a sudden, some are claiming the previous BN government is better just because they didn’t “attack” civil society. So is a government which ignores civil society now better for not listening, engaging and debating?

Whether the Penang Forum is a quintessential civil society or not is not up to Dr Kua Kia Soong but rather the people of Penang to decide. Dr Lim should stop saying that he wont play politics with the chief minister (CM).

I would like to question him on how he could simply forget to copy the George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI) and National Heritage Department when he sent the letter to Unesco and also he claims that there was “no reason to do that”. Is it wrong to question whether those reasons are even valid to be considered?

If the Penang Forum claims to represent Penangites, then they should understand that not everyone will think the same way that they do and accept that there will always be disagreements. Just because the government of the day disagrees with their views after engagement and discussion, does it justify them going direct to Unesco behind everyone’s back? Can you blame anyone from feeling backstabbed?

Therefore they should remember that they can be criticised as much as any other civil society organisation, political party or activist. If they cannot take criticisms and label it an “attack” instead, then it is easy to see why they cannot accept other ways besides their own and therefore cannot truly represent anyone but themselves, let alone Penang.

CHRIS LEE CHUN KIT is a city councillor with the Penang Island City Council (Majlis Bandaraya Pulau Pinang) representing the DAP.