Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said PKR must “carefully assess” the decision of its five representatives who abstained from voting against the controversial motion on reclamation filed by Umno in the state assembly last night.

“The impression is that they are now together with Umno, but we shall let PKR handle it,” Lim said at a press conference in George Town today.

Asked if he would speak to PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail on the matter, he said, “I will brief her.”

Lim added: “We do not want them or the public to be tricked by Umno, which talks about transparency and accountability, but it is the one that took RM2.6 billion as donation.

“It is a classic case of Umno being the culprit and part of the problem, but now wants to be part of the solution.”

Lim failed to obtain an unanimous vote to kick out a controversial motion on land reclamation filed by Muhammad Farid Saad (BN-Pulau Betong).

Out of 38 assemblypersons who were in the House last night, nine Umno assemblypersons (one was absent) voted to support their motion, 22 (18 from DAP and four from PKR) voted against, while five PKR representatives abstained from voting.

'Voted according to conscience'

The five are Ong Chin Wen (Bukit Tengah), Norlela Ariffin (Penanti), Cheah Kah Peng (Kebun Bunga), Dr T Jayabalan (Batu Uban), and Lee Khai Loon (Machang Bubuk).

They said they voted according to their conscience, while considering the political scenario of the country.

Deputy Chief Minister I Rashid Hasnon (PKR-Pantai Jerejak) and two state executive councillors - Abdul Malik Abul Kassim (PKR-Batu Maung) and Dr Afif Bahardin (PKR-Seberang Jaya) - voted against the Umno motion.

Speaker Law Choo Kiang (PKR-Bukit Tambun) was not allowed to vote, while deputy speaker Maktar Shapee (PKR-Sungai Bakap) voted against Umno.

In his motion, Farid ( photo ) asked that all projects or concessions involving reclamation be made public before they are finalised.

Farid’s motion also called for all new reclamation projects to be suspended until a complete, detailed environmental impact assessment is conducted.

Reclamation has been a hot issue in Penang since the state legislative assembly convened on Monday, and proceeded until last night, when the assembly was adjourned sine die at 10pm.

Lim said the motion must be rejected as Farid had refused to apologise for being part of a government that approved a massive area of 3,241 acres for reclamation prior to 2008.

He reiterated that the current state government under Pakatan Harapan had only approved 60 acres of land to be reclaimed.

Lim asked Farid to admit his role in approving reclamation projects before asking the pro-state government representatives to agree to the motion.

However, Farid “dared not answer at all, nor did he deny”, Lim said.

“The motion looks good but there are many traps, and we do not want to be blinded by Umno’s sleekness in wanting to portray itself as the hero. In fact, the Umno members are villains where reclamation projects are concerned.

“It’s a political game and we are not stupid to be trapped or fooled by them, as we find it completely incomprehensible and a clear case of double standards when he (Farid) was part of the BN administration that approved the reclamation,” he said.

Lim cited another classic example, where the federal government issues gambling licences, but the state government is blamed for it.

He said Farid was stating the obvious in the motion that demanded a detailed environmental impact assessment and public feedback to be conducted before a project is approved, as these are provided for by law.