ANY vote for Perikatan Nasional (PN) in the upcoming Penang state polls would amount to voting in support of Penang being given back to Kedah, said DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng.
The Bagan MP was referring to caretaker Kedah menteri besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor’s remark on May 29 that Kedah and Penang do not have a border because Penang still belongs to Kedah, and that Kedah only shares a border with Perak and Perlis.
On this matter, Lim stressed that Penang is now a sovereign state and is no longer part of Kedah.
“While no one questions Penang’s history that was once part of Kedah, historians and constitutional experts reaffirm that the Conference of Rulers, including the Kedah Sultan, and the Federal Constitution both validates and verifies Penang as a sovereign state in Malaysia,” Lim said in a statement on his Facebook page today (June 30).
Lim further added that Sanusi’s alleged suggestion to amend the Federal Constitution to return Penang to Kedah was inflammatory, illegal and seditious.
“Sanusi has escalated his solo claim of returning Penang back to Kedah with war and violent imagery, causing unease and upsetting many Penangites,” Lim remarked.
“Sanusi is not promoting Kedah’s interests when he knows that this is already a constitutional fact that cannot be altered or varied.”
Lim went on to accus Sanusi of leveraging the Penang issue to divert attention away from alleged governance failures such as uninterrupted clean water supply and the provision of business and job opportunities for a better life for Kedah residents.
Lim also said that Sanusi was seeking to undermine the Federal Constitution and claim that Sanusi had chosen to make personal attacks against him instead of repenting for making a provocative statement.
On June 24, the incumbent Jeneri assemblyman referred to Penang as Constantinople and PN supporters as Ottoman Sultan Muhammad al-Fateh, who led the conquest of Constantinople from the Eastern Rome Empire in 1453.
“I will not stoop as low as Sanusi because his personal attacks reveal that he has lost the argument by failing to respond with facts and reason.
“Sanusi’s use of war-like imagery or ‘violent or threatening’ metaphors as he likes to claim, in his mindless pursuit to return Penang to Kedah, exposes his readiness to risk divisiveness and create enmity among Malaysians, particularly 1.8 mil Penangites,” Lim said.
“For this reason, Penangites must turn up fully to vote in the state election for good governance and to live a better life as well as defend, protect and preserve the sovereignty of Penang.
“A vote for PN in Penang is a vote to extinguish Penang and forcibly return to Kedah against the wishes of Penangites,” Lim said. – June 30, 2023
