DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng says PAS leaders were consulted about DAP's plans to push for local government elections. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, January 25, 2015.DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng today expressed shock at Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s “dishonest interpretation of facts" in criticising DAP’s move to have local government elections, saying he had consulted the PAS president before pursuing the matter through legal means.Lim, who is Penang chief minister, said he had called both Hadi and PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali before Penang began pushing for the implementation of the “third vote" through the courts.“I am shocked that both leaders have failed to mention this, which I think is dishonest," Lim said.DAP and PAS, together with PKR, are partners in the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition.Lim said he had explained the state government’s intention, and the PAS leaders had replied that it was unlikely that the Barisan Nasional (BN), which controlled the federal government, would agree but Penang could go ahead and try.“So they did not object. And this is proven by the fact that none of the PAS leaders objected to Penang PR government pushing for local government elections when (we were) filing in court. None of them objected in the press," he said.“Do they dare to say this is not true? Or are they going to continue their dishonest interpretation of facts?"Hadi on Friday had raised the spectre of the May 13 riots in defending the Islamist party’s position against local council elections.He said such polls could cause a deeper racial divide as well as tension, especially in Chinese-majority areas, besides being advantageous to urban residents only, whom he said were mainly non-Malays.Local government elections were conducted in Penang in the 1950s and 1960s. They were subsequently suspended in the country by an act of Parliament in 1965 due to the Emergency.Lim said he would rebut Hadi’s points against the local elections at a press conference in his office tomorrow.He said this at a press conference during a break at a DAP political retreat for Kedah and Perlis party leaders at a hotel in Bukit Mertajam. Also present were Kedah DAP chief Tan Kok Yew, who is also the state assemblyman for Derga, and Perlis DAP chief Teh Seng Chuan.Lim also called on the PAS leaders not to equate DAP’s pushing for the local elections with PAS’s move for hudud, or Islamic criminal punishment, in Kelantan.“We consulted with them all the way. On hudud, they never even consulted with us. They only do it with Umno."“That’s why they never made any objection (to the push for local government elections), not even at a PR meeting," he said, adding that the DAP’s pursuit of local government elections was not new and had been going on for years.“No PAS leader objected. So where is the trustworthiness?" he asked.Lim added that there seemed to be some orchestration between the PAS leadership and Umno on the issue, as Hadi’s remarks were followed the next day with support from Umno’s Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, who is minister of urban wellbeing, housing and local government.“That would appear to be the impression," Lim said. “Because when he (Hadi) made that incredible statement, Umno immediately came out and supported it."Rahman said he believed there was a risk of greater polarisation of race should local government election be mandatedThe DAP-led Penang government’s pursuit of local elections formally began on March 4, 2010, when Lim sent a letter to the Election Commission chairman, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof, asking the body to hold elections for the Penang Island and Seberang Prai municipal councils.Aziz responded that it was unable to hold local elections as there no laws for such elections.The Penang State Assembly then passed the Local Government Elections (Penang Island and Province Wellesley) Enactment 2012 on May 9, 2012. It was gazetted on July 5 the same year.Lim said there was no objection from PAS when this happened.The matter was then taken to court, and the Federal Court ruled on August 14 last year that Penang could not unilaterally suspend provisions in the Local Government Act 1976, which stipulate that councillors be appointed. – January 25, 2015.
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