Penang exco member Lim Siew Khim has denied allegations that the state government is running a "private" National Registration Department (NRD) to dish out citizenship.

This comes after claims surfaced on social media suggesting that the Penang Citizenship Programme (PKPP) was a DAP-led operation to register foreigners as citizens.

"The PKPP is not a private NRD. We assist Penang-born residents without Malaysian citizenship in coordinating...