Penang Youth Parliament 2014 members have conducted an evaluation on the performance of 26 assemblypersons in the recently concluded state assembly session.

Sixteen backbenchers and 10 opposition assemblypersons --all from Umno were evaluated from Nov 7 to 14.

Their 'performances' were evaluated based on four criteria - quality of debate, value of their views, suggestions (to address problems) and professional ethics.

According to the report, the assemblypersons who obtained the top three spots were Muhammad Farid Saad (Umno-Pulau Betong) ( right ), RSN Rayer (DAP-Seri Delima) and Cheah Kah Peng (PKR-Kebun Bunga).

Opposition leader Jahara Hamid (Umno-Telok Ayer Tawar) obtained the lowest mark.

Meanwhile, the top three absentees from the proceedings (16 sessions) were Roslan Saidin (Umno-Pinang Tunggal) who missed nine, followed by Nordin Ahmad (Umno - Bayan Lepas), eight sessions and Lydia Ong Kok Fooi (DAP-Berapit), six sessions.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (DAP-Air Putih) missed four sessions throughout the proceedings, while opposition leader Jahara Hamid was absent for one session.

On the number of questions submitted to the speaker, A. Thanasekharan (DAP-Bagan Dalam) failed to submit any written questions while 10 out of the 16 assemblymen evaluated submittted the maximum numbers of questions, which is 30.

On the length of debate time, Rayer spoke the most in the House (1 hour and 57 minutes) followed by Jahara (1hr 37 mins), Muhammad Farid (1 hr 35 mins), Teh Yee Cheu (1 hr 28 mins) and Wong Hon Wai (1 hr 25 mins).

However, the evaluators said that the length of time of debate in the House does not indicate the quality of the assemblypersons' performance.

Coordinator of the evaluation team Chin How Zet ( left ) said that the idea for the activity was based on the work of the Taiwan Citizen Congress Watch.

Chin said that the new initiative is to involve the public to improve the quality and performance of assemblypersons in the Dewan sitting.

"However, the evaluation was only based on the observations of 16 respondents who closely followed the proceedings of the Dewan," he said, at a press conference today to announce the result of the evaluation.

"The evaluation process was only based on five days' performance of the assemblypersons, we are aware that the time is too short," he added.

Chin said that the team has decided to form an NGO called The Penang Citizen Assembly Watch and urged journalists to join the effort to assess the assemblypersons at every state legislative proceeding.

The public can, from now on, share their views on the subject at @pantauDUNPP and Facebook page ' Pemantau Dun Rakyat Pulau Pinang '.

Penang Suaram coordinator Ong Jing Cheng ( right ) admitted there were several limitations to the evaluation process, including the ability of the evaluators and their understanding of the role of backbenchers and politicians.

He said the evaluation on performance of the assemblypersons was based on the perception of the evaluators who come from varied backgrounds,  aged from 18 to 52.

"Politics is based on public perception but the evaluation should be open to all, even those from political parties.

"We will improve our evaluation process in the future.

"We will be organising forums to give a better understanding to the public about the Westminster system, function of the state assembly, role of opposition and backbenchers,"he said.

Accompanying the two spokespersons are Sylvester Yau and Ahmad Fazley who are also members of the evaluation team.

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