PKR Kedah, which has five seats in the state assembly, has not taken the bait dangled by the MCA to leave the Pakatan coalition in order to bring down the state government.

"The issue of quitting Pakatan does not arise at all. This is just part of the internal issues that can be solved properly," said PKR Kedah chief Ahmad Kassim when contacted by today.

kedah pig abattoir demolished 010709 08 The Kuala Kedah MP said he had discussed the matter with Kedah Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak and believed a suitable alternate location for abattoir would be found soon.

"We are aggressively looking for a new place," he stressed.

According to him, the issue is an environment issue as the abattoir was too near the Kedah river and built on river reserve land.

"Gerakan, MCA and Umno have politicised the issue in a bid to weaken people's confidence towards Pakatan."

ahmad kassim azizan abdul razak Ahmad clarified that Azizan ( right ) had given the abattoir operator one month that expired yesterday to move to another location.

The MB also promised to facilitate the application process although the operator only submitted his application last week.

However, Ahmad stressed that the state government is committed to finding a new location for the abattoir and that PKR Kedah will also urge the state government to provide financial assistance for the operator.

Pakatan secretariat suggested

PKR Kedah deputy chief Tan Show Kang also felt that there was no need for his party to quit the Pakatan state government.

He pointed out that the abattoir was in fact asked to relocate by the BN state government more than 10 years ago but this was not executed.

kedah pig abattoir demolished 010709 04 "So we don't have to make a big fuss over a petty issue that would bring down the state government," he told Malaysiakini in a phone interview.

The Sidam assemblyperson suggested that a Pakatan secretariat be set up at the state level to solve the communication problem within the three parties, which he believed was the root cause of the "fiasco".

He explained that although PKR reps had met Azizan many times to discuss state policies, Azizan however could not make a final decision as he has to refer the matter to his own party leadership for endorsement.

No end to demands

"If he keeps agreeing to our demands then he would be criticised by his party which eventually may remove him as the menteri besar."

tan show kang pkr kedah sidam adun Tan proposed that a Kedah Pakatan secretariat be formed consisting of the state leadership of all three parties to decide on policies from time to time.

"I had raised the suggestion a long time ago but the two parties (PKR and PAS) only met once at Feb 5 this year," he added.

However, PKR state committee member Lim Soo Nee took a different position.

kedah state seat breakdown 050209 The Kulim assemblyperson thought that if the party central leadership could not stop the Kedah state government from implementing "anti-rakyat policies", PKR Kedah should follow DAP's footstep.

Pakatan ruled Kedah with a majority of eight seats. With the withdrawal DAP's sole assemblyperson from the coalition, BN requires another four reps to bring down the state government.

PAS controls 16 seats and PKR controls five seats. Among the five PKR reps, three are Chinese, one Malay and one Indian.

MCA had openly asked all four PKR non-Malay assemblypersons to quit Pakatan and support BN to form a new state government that would change the current policies.