PENANG DUN | The state government was put in a spot today when the vocal Norlela Ariffin (PKR-Penanti) raised the issue of state executive council appointments at the state legislative, which enters its fourth day.

Norlela said the line-up was unfair to PKR, and two newbies - the Amanah and Bersatu assemblypersons.

She argued that the line-up is biased, as it comprised of more DAP members, rather than PKR or the other two parties.

Currently, DAP maintains 19 seats in the 40-member state assembly. PKR has 14 while Amanah and Bersatu has two each.

"If PKR, Amanah and Bersatu combine their seats, they would have 18 - a formidable majority, like DAP," she said.

Norlela also lamented that assemblypersons from flood-prone constituencies were not part of the state flood mitigation committee.

"The imbalance of the state executive councillors is evident too in the membership of the 30 state executive committees," she added.

But Chow Kon Yeow (DAP-Tanjong) swiftly put her in the spot when he reminded her of the prime minister's appointment, pointing to the fact that Bersatu does not have the majority in Parliament.

"The DAP, when combined with Amanah and Bersatu also has a strong majority of 23 seats.

"It would be a bigger majority than PKR's combination with the two parties. Besides, Amanah and Bersatu are closer to the DAP," Chow quipped.

He added that if it was according to Norlela's justification, the PM's post should also come from the party with most seats in Parliament.

"But the decision to appoint the PM is a Pakatan Harapan decision, which we all respect," he added.

In his written response to Norlela's written question on the same issue, Chow noted that the federal government had appointed 26 ministers for 27 different portfolios.

However, the state government only has 11 executive councillors overseeing 30 portfolios, Chow said.

"The 11 state excos have to be evenly distributed among the 30 portfolios, it is not very different from the Cabinet," he said.

He added that the Penang government has formed 30 committees and only five assemblypersons are allocated for each committee.

"Each assemblyperson is given the choice to join the committee of their priority," he said.

Chow said certain committees like the one on flood mitigation received many applications from assemblypersons.

He explained that they will be selected based on the priority of the applications, and the vacancies in other committees will also be taken into account.

"We can increase the number of members in each committee if the applicants (assemblypersons) have strong justification to join the committee," stressed Chow.

He also told Norlela that she can still express her opinion or highlight issues about flood problems to the committee on flood mitigation although she may not be a member.