YOURSAY | ‘Those who can, do. Those who can't, sit on the advisory council.’

CM offers but councillor rejects power to curb illegal parking

Ferdtan: Not that what Penang Island City Council (MBPP) local councillor Lim Mah Hui had said about the sorry state of affairs in illegal parking in Penang is untrue, but sometimes when you want to be very vocal about it, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Illegal parking is found everywhere in the country, especially in Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur.

Now Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has called Mah Hui’s bluff to give him full authority to enforce the law; and it is not surprising that Mah Hui balked, giving a reason like make him a mayor first.

Why not as a prime minister then - more power, isn’t it? If Mah Hui is serious (and sincere) in the matter, he should be brave enough to take up the challenge.

Headhunter: Mah Hui should walk his talk. You have been given the opportunity to take charge and make things right, but you chicken out.

Don't make noise for the sake of making noise just to prove you dare to stand up to your CM and become a hero.

If you are sincere in serving Penang, do it right. Sure, BN will pat you on the back. But your own colleagues and Penangites will probably spit on you. If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Snake-in-the-Grass: Yes, just do it! In fact, I offer to tow those cars if you give me the permission and authority. No more illegal parking in three months.

I will charge RM100 per tow, to be paid by the offenders.

The Analyser: The problem is with the selfish mentality of Penang drivers, and no amount of wheel-clamping, fining or towing away will resolve that problem.

History has shown that no matter how efficient enforcement becomes, it cannot deal with the attitudes generated in the children of Penang by their selfish, insecure parents.

Southpaw: As I said, Guan Eng is the only CM in the country who has to, and is willing to, micro-manage for the sake of transparency and stakeholder engagement.

Towing illegal cars is within the rights of the state government but politically and socially is there a need to over-enforce this right?

Mah Hui and the other NGOs may want to do it, but people on the ground may not think it's such a big deal. Since he thinks the state government is doing a pretty lousy job, he should be brave enough to take up the offer to show the state government how to resolve the illegal parking problem once and for all.

HaveAGreatDay: What a suggestion by Guan Eng. As CM, he is passing the buck - the buck should stop with him.

Mojo Jojo: Those who can, do. Those who can't, sit on the advisory council.

Posters slamming CM for sacking two PKR reps from posts appear

Anonymous #13114320: Infighting in politics never ends. Can there be a closed-door venue where any disagreement can be fought over?

We are bored to hear such never-ending politics, with some commentors here who keep giving advice, like as if people don’t know that already.

The Analyser: Anonymous #13114320, differences in politics are the essence of a democracy. For you to want to suppress it suggests you might as well stay with BN.

The alternative is for political parties to have an abiding philosophy and fixed policies with which everyone agrees. Then the debate is only about the details, and that is healthy.

At the moment, the debate is about basic principles and it appears that everyone has their own set of principles - mainly they deal with self - so it’s not surprising that dissension is so common.

I ask myself why a common philosophy has not evolved in the past 13 years. The only answer I can find is selfishness and insecurity; everyone wants things done their way and they will spit on the dummy if they don't get their own way.

Anonyxyz: If the duo were from Umno-BN, they would have been sacked from the party. Initially PKR existed to save Anwar Ibrahim, now it is a party of ‘you don't know who is stabbing who from the back’.

Even more doubtfully, it is supporting PAS, which is openly saying it is supporting Umno.

James_3392: Guan Eng, you don't have to over-react to such distractions. As head of a state administration, you cannot possibly make everyone happy.

Even with good work, there are bound to be troublemakers from the crowd or even from your own team. Just continue with your good work and results will speak for themselves in the not-too-distant future.

The late Lee Kuan Yew had ruled Singapore with an iron fist during the republic’s formative years, and many Singaporeans were against him.

Along the way he might have made some serious mistakes, but then take the Lee Kuan Yew regime as a whole: who can now disagree that without him, Singapore could never have been what it is today?

Ferdtan: In the next election, I think two Pakatan state seats, Bukit Tengah and Kebun Bunga - the constituencies of PKR assemblyperson Ong Chin Wen and his colleague Cheah Kah Peng respectively - may be in danger of being lost to BN if both of them are retained to stand as candidates, with the issue between DAP and PKR not being resolved.

In Bukit Tengah and Kebun Bunga, they have Chinese voters of 45 percent and 76 percent respectively.

Like it or not, the Chinese in Penang are with the DAP, so they may not vote for these two PKR candidates. That is the fact, ugly as it is.

Oh Ya?: Enemies from outside Pakatan Harapan? With friends like these one hardly needs enemies. And they still think the voters would not be turned off by these endless quarrels?

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