CONTROVERSIAL former Penang Island municipal councilor Iszuree Ibrahim has taken a swipe at Local Government Development Minister Nga Kor Ming (main pic left) for being over-zealous in seeking the advice of Singapore’s Housing & Development Board (HDB) in the course of implementing affordable housing in Malaysia.
The Penang PAS information secretary went on to claim that since the day he was part of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government back in 2008, the Penang DAP state government has been “soliciting advice from Singapore’s PAP (People’s Action Party) government to bring about the divide and rule planning” in the state.
Relating his experience when he was a municipal councilor, Iszuree observed that that “all Malay villages had collapsed soon after the 13th General Election (in 2013) and were replaced with condominiums”.
“One of the reasons I was dismissed as a member of the MPPP (Penang Island Municipal Council) on Sept 26, 2014 was because I voiced my objection that the fate of heritage villages would collapse once D4P gained power after GE13,” he penned on his latest Facebook post.
“I mentioned in my speech at the PAS Summit in Batu Pahat (Johor) 2014. Now that the DAP minister (Nga) has openly and planned to invite Singapore’s HDB to come in, I dread the fate of both Malay reserve land and Malay land in the country.”
(Editor’s Note: The Penang PR state government had on Oct 8, 2014 decided to retain Iszuree as an island municipal councilor after the state PAS chapter offered to bear full responsibility for its representative’s attack against the then chief minister Lim Guan Eng.
The initial decision to sack Iszuree in the previous week was reversed after Penang PAS leaders met with Guan Eng, according to the then state executive councilor Dr Afif Bahardin on behalf of the state council.
Afif added that Penang PAS had offered to take full responsibility of Iszuree’s criticisms against Guan Eng and the state government in a bid to mend its tie with the party’s then PR ally, DAP.)
Iszuree went on to express concern that if the current situation continues to persist for another 10-20 years, Malay heritage villages on the outskirts of Penang will be like that of Geylang Serai (in Singapore).
“The island side of Penang as well as southern and central Seberang Perai are now a ‘wreck’. The majority of Malays have fled and are now a minority,” he lambasted.
“Malays continue to disappear because their hometowns have collapsed; sadly Muslims can only watch condos priced RM400,000 and above rising but can ill-afford to own them. Where there lies a Malay village, one will see developers coming in. HDB has long been a development advisor in Batu Kawan in the southern fringe of Seberang Perai.”
Iszuree who is also the PAS Penang treasurer further suggested that the primary agenda of DAP wanting to build a tunnel or the third Penang bridge from Georgetown directly to the Kepala Batas and Tasek Gelugor parliamentary constituencies in the northern part of the mainland is “to crackdown on PAS’ influence”.
“Now that the northern and central Seberang Perai are under the control of Perikatan Nasional (PN), DAP is somewhat challenged,” remarked Iszuree.
“The saviour is none other than the green tsunami wave during the GE15 … It is hoped that the green wave is able to overthrow the PH coalition in which its coalition member DAP helms the Penang state government.” – Jan 20, 2023
