Lim Boo Chang has clarified that he is expected to protect the autonomy of the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP), as a councillor who has served three years under the Pakatan Rakyat state government.

The PKR Bukit Gelugor chief claimed that he is being “pressured” by Pakatan and PKR colleagues for criticising a budget item relating to expenditure on the subterranean Penang International Convention and Exhibition centre (sPICE).

However, he would not reveal the sources of ‘pressure’.

NONE "To me, the state has set an unprecedented dangerous move in directing the MPPP to, among others, use RM50 million from its coffers for the sPICE project" said Lim (left) , who had been a local councillor under the BN government.

"(This move was done) without thorough discussion or full debate through its relevant standing committees.”

These are the finance committee and the planning and development committee, whose decisions must be approved by the full 24-member council, including MPP president Patahiyah Ismail.

This is required by Section 9(1) of the Local Government Act, via a general directive that the state government can issue to the MPPP on policy matters, he explained.

"This directive does not involve the spending of such a huge sum on a specific project such as sPICE," said Lim, who had been a member of Gerakan and MCA before joining PKR in 2008.

The project , planned in Relau, to replace the dilapidated Penang International Sports Arena, has been condemned by the BN for its ‘lopsided agreement’, as well as terms and conditions which are said to favour the developer.

Lim and fellow-councillor Lim Mah Hui had recently recorded their objections to this item of expenditure in the council’s budget, but Patahiyah put an end to the debate by saying that council had approved it.

Although defeated by a vote of 17 to 2, Lim said he remains committed to principles of good governance such as competency, accountability and transparency, and that his conscience is clear.

‘Where’s the agreement?’

Gerakan local government bureau head Teh Leong Meng also criticised the state government for meddling in the MPPP budget and interfering in the role of the councillors.

NONE Teh (left) said the councillors were mere "rubber stamps" who had approved the budget without knowing the details of projects like sPICE.

Up to today, he added, the nine councillors who had sed for a special briefing on sPICE have not been given the agreement inked between the developer - Eco Meridian Sbn Bhd, a subsidiary of Umno-inked SP Setia Bhd - and the MPPP.

"Under the previous government, all projects had to be debated by councillors, before these were submitted to the state government for approval," he told a press conference.

"Lim Boo Chang is the best man to testify as he has served nine years as councillor, under previous (for six years) and present governments (three years)," he added.

"MPPP councillors have lost all autonomous power and have become rubber stamps. Is the state government running the council now?"