Susan Loone
Maverick Penang DAP assemblyperson Teh Yee Cheu continues to flog a dead horse in proposing to limit the term of the state's chief minister.
He wants the chief minister's tenure to be limited to two terms instead of the current unlimited number of years.
Teh aims to disallow Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng from holding on to his post which the latter seized from BN's Koh Tsu Koon in 2008.
However, Teh does not get any support from his colleagues and only a whimper of support from the state opposition, Umno.
Today, Teh tried to file a motion on the matter at the Penang legislative assembly, which is into its fifth day today, only to meet with a brick wall right from the word go.
His proposal was shot down by speaker Law Choo Kiang for not complying with the criteria for a motion to be tabled at the 40-member assembly.
"The motion is neither urgent nor is it of public interest nor is national security threatened ," said Law, who is also PKR's Bukit Tambun assemblyperson.
When Teh asked if anyone supported the motion, he was met with an eerie silence.
It was déjà vu for Teh. Each time he had raised the issue since 2010 in his speeches or when interjecting another assemblyperson during the assembly proceedings, he got an earful from his own comrades.
Undaunted, to back his arguments this time around, Teh listed several Commonwealth countries which practised term limits on their chief executives.
Last night, during his turn to speak, Wong Hon Wai (DAP-Air Itam), however, refuted Teh's argument saying one of the countries - Trinidad and Tobago - was not a good example to cite.
"The country is plagued with a state of emergency and internal crises, just Google it," said Wong, who is Lim's political secretary.
'Study proposal first'
Teh has also cited Thailand as another example of a country which practised a two-term limit of four years each for the prime minister's post.
To this, Wong countered: "But Thailand had its constitution rewritten many times and is now under military rule.”
Wong's party comrade, RSN Rayer (DAP-Sri Delima) then chipped in to say, "It would be right to call for the term to be limited if we are dealing with a leader whose integrity is questionable."
DAP ally, Lee Khai Loon (PKR-Machang Bubuk), said the system needs to be reformed first and urged for any term limit proposal to be studied first.
"There are pros and cons […] we do not need to do it now," he said.
http://m.malaysiakini.com/news/320213
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