Wednesday March 12, 2008

DAP rep not in Kedah exco

By PAUL GABRIEL and EMBUN MAJID

newsdesk@thestar.com.my

ALOR STAR: The new Kedah coalition government will comprise seven PAS and three PKR representatives, with the DAP excluded.

Kedah DAP secretary Lee Guan Aik, who won the Kota Darul Aman seat, was supposed to be invited to represent the Chinese community in the state executive council.

»I was supposed to be made an exco member« LEE GUAN AIK

However, his nomination was dropped after the state PKR objected.

“I was supposed to be made an exco member but PKR did not agree,” Lee said when contacted last night.

PKR’s Tan Wei Shu, who won the Bakar Arang seat, will now represent the Chinese community.

Mentri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak, who presented the state exco list to Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah at Wisma Darul Aman yesterday, confirmed that the coalition would comprise only PAS and PKR.

“The distribution of state exco seats will only be between both parties,” he told newsmen earlier at his office in Wisma Darul Aman yesterday.

PAS vice-president Datuk Husam Musa had said in Kota Baru on Monday that the party had decided to offer a state exco post to the DAP in Kedah.

The Opposition swept 22 of the 36 state seats in Kedah, with PAS winning 16, PKR four, and DAP and an independent candidate one each.

Two other Chinese assemblymen were elected on a PKR ticket– Lim Soo Nee (Kulim) and Tan Joon Long (Sidam).

Independent V. Arumugam defeated an MIC candidate in Bukit Selambau.

Azizan said Arumugam had joined PKR and would represent the Indian community in the state government. The MIC’s other candidate was defeated in Lunas.

The PAS faces in the exco line-up are expected to be Taulan Rasul (Tokai), Phahrolrazi Zawawi (Pengkalan Kundor), Siti Aishah Ghazali (Merbau Pulas), Dr Hamdan Mohamed Khalib (Tanjung Dawai), Amiruddin Hamzah (Anak Bukit), Dr Ismail Salleh (Alor Mengkudu) and Mohd Rohsidi Osman (Bukit Pinang).

The other PKR exco member is said to be Mohd Razhi Salleh (Lunas).

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