KUALA LUMPUR, November 2 – The Chairman of PRM Penang, Teh Yee Cheu (TYC), has urged Penang Chief Minister (CM) Chow Kon Yeow to take advantage of his second and final term to fulfill key election promises. TYC specifically called on the CM to make two significant changes: amend the State Constitution and restore local government elections, including the election of mayors who would then be appointed by the CM.
TYC believes that amending the State Constitution to enable local government elections will help reduce crony corruption, strengthen governance, allocate political resources fairly, and ultimately benefit the people. In addition, TYC emphasized that the DAP’s current power in central and state governments is more than capable of restoring the local government electoral system. TYC suggested several ways to achieve this, including Minister of Housing and Local Government YB Nga Kor Ming completing relevant law revisions within the year or allowing state governments to decide on conducting local government elections.
TYC challenged the newly elected State Legislators to propose these reforms in the upcoming state assembly sitting in mid-November 2023. TYC urged the Chief Minister to cease hesitating and to start exploring these constitutional amendment proposals, aiming to complete the democratic reform within the next five years of his term.
