The state opposition today ticked off the Pakatan Rakyat for coining the term "tsunami' to describe the Barisan Nasional's losses including Penang in the last general election.

Opposition leader Azhar Ibrahim and also Penaga assemblyperson , said the word tsunami itself connotes a situation which is not favourable as it brought misery to the people.

"Don't we realise what this word means? Does this word bring any goodness? It brings sufferings," he added.

He said this at a dialogue session for assemblypersons from Barisan Nasional, Pakatan Rakyat and students from Universiti Sains Malaysia and INTI-College at the Penang state assembly today.

The dialogue session was a new initiative by speaker Abdul Halim Hussain to engage the public in learning more about the role, duties and responsibilities of the legislative.

Pot and kettle game goes on

NONE Azhar ( extreme left ) had been slapped with a six-month suspension order from the state assembly by the  the powerful rights and privileges committee for uttering seditious comments.

Abdul Halim, who is PKR Balik Pulau division chief, however said, he had invited Azhar to today's dialogue session as the opposition representative.

During his speech, Azhar criticised politicians who ‘have nothing better to do than damaging, insulting, shaming and spoiling the reputation (memburukan, menghina, memalukan dan menjatuhkan martabat) others.

"This is the name of the game...or the end justifies the means, they say... true, there are politicians who do these all the time...but at the end we all die and we will face God," he said.

 "Damaging, insulting, shaming and spoiling the reputation of others are not how civilised persons behave," he added.

Azhar, who is state Umno liaison secretary, said the opposition does not oppose everything under the sun, but criticises constructively to achieve peace and justice.

He urged the Pakatan not to just use words, but strategies to prevent suffering for the people and those in power should not use it to persecute others.

the word tsunami in politics means suffering for the people Meanwhile, Dato Keramat assemblyperson Jagdeep Singh Deo ( wearing red tie in photo ) , who was also present at the session flatly rejected the notion that the political tsunami had brought misery for the people.

Instead, he said this was the people's decision and Penang has been seeing many improvements since then like fundamental reforms in the state government administration under the "competency, accountability and transparency" principles.

"Because of this change, in this past three years, especially last year, we have the auditor-general's report which praised Penang for being top in its financial management; we were also praised by Transparency International for being the number one least corrupt state in the country" he countered.

"This is all due to the decision of the people (which led to the political tsunami)...our achievement is the legacy of the people," he added.