Several Penang Pakatan Harapan assemblypersons have lashed out at state Gerakan chief Teng Chang Yeow for criticising the state government for postponing the Dewan Negeri proceedings for nine days.

The assemblypersons slammed Teng for insulting the Indian community as the proceedings were postponed because of the Deepavali celebrations and they demanded that Teng apologises for "sucking up" to Umno.

At Gerakan’s Deepavali open house on Sunday, Teng said the decision to suspend the state assembly sitting for nine days was due to “poor time management”.

Teng was quoted in a New Straits Times report on Nov 16 as saying “The sitting forms the highest decision-making stage for Penang, so due respect must be given to it.

“It is not right to postpone the session and such decision is a sign of arrogance from the local administration,” Teng is quoted as saying.

The state assembly sitting began on Nov 6, with Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng tabling the state’s 2016 budget, after which the proceedings were postponed to Nov 16, in conjunction with the schools holidays and Deepavali.

Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy ( photo ) questioned the double-standard practice of Teng, saying the Gerakan leader was willing to criticise Penang but say nothing about the BN federal government which also postponed the Parliament sitting at the same time.

“Why deny the opportunities for Indians to celebrate Deepavali? Teng should apologise to all Indians for his unwarranted, insensitive, nasty and childish statement, which have hurt the feelings of Indians,” Ramasamy said at a press conference at the state assembly today.

Teng should have been fair and criticised the Umno-led administration, too, for postponing Parliament during the time.

Penang made a very “conscious decision” to take the state assembly session break and disrespect is meant to the state legislative assembly, Ramasamy added.

State executive councillor Jagdeep Singh Deo (DAP-Dato Keramat) said Teng may not have specifically mentioned ‘Deepavali” when uttering his statement.

“But his message was rather clear as the House took a break and reconvened on Monday. Teng should be more careful with his remarks,” Jagdeep said.

A Tanasekharan (DAP-Bagan Dalam) said Teng’s statement was a “real insult” to Indians in general and also to the civil servants and assemblypersons who are of the ethnicity.

“Are we going to deny Indians their celebration? Why so insensitive? Gerakan lost because the party became racist and it is just like Umno and and MCA,” Tanasekharan said.

Dr T Jayabalan (PKR-Batu Uban) said Gerakan merely knows how to “suck up” to Umno and that this was “why Penangites have rejected them”.