Penang CM: If Kedah MB goes to court, we will answer

Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow has offered a more terrestrial response to Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor’s contention that the latter’s state has been incurring losses since the “time of creation” and is therefore taking the water dispute to court.

The DAP leader said since there are various laws and conventions governing the use of raw water resources involving more than one country or state, it would be up to the court to make a decision.

"It’s up to the Kedah state government to initiate legal action and we will respond accordingly.

"If he (Sanusi) only talks, then we will also only talk.

"If he brings the matter to court, then we will answer to the court," New Straits Times reported him as telling reporters in Penang.

Chow (above, left) was responding to a question regarding the state’s chances of winning the legal battle.

Yesterday, the chief minister said he was prepared to meet the menteri besar in court after the latter claimed that he had no other option but to pursue legal redress.

Earlier, when quizzed on the losses Kedah suffered, Sanusi replied: “This is from the time God created the Earth.”

However, the menteri besar noted that since the figure would be incalculable, the state government aimed to settle for a claim of RM50 million every year.

Nearly 20k documents procured

In July, Sanusi claimed that a state government-appointed research team had procured thousands of documents from abroad regarding the relationship between Penang and Kedah.

“There are a lot of documents. I understand close to 20,000 historical documents, mostly reports from the Straits Settlements to the British government at the time,” he said.

The findings, he said, would help in building a case over Penang’s status as a leased state during the British colonial administration.

“We are doing this based on the (Federal) Constitution and the (Kedah) constitution.

“There are so many facts out there but people are talking about it in piecemeal, so my administration is collecting them. That is the gist of the study.

“Some would accuse us of just going after free money. That’s not it. We want to establish the position (of Kedah and Penang) based on facts,” he added.

Sanusi said that he himself had studied some of the documents at the British Library and Britain’s National Archives.

Known history

Chow, however, told Sanusi that there is no need to travel the world in search of documents.

“We are not denying that Penang used to be a part of Kedah in the past.

“Please accept that Penang is an independent state and that its position is guaranteed by the Federal Constitution.

“There is no need for you to go around the world to gather 20,000 documents about these well-known historical facts,” he said.

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