The Penang State Government has been accused by certain Malay NGOs of demolishing and victimising Malay illegal stalls. CM Lim Guan Eng called a press conference on Sunday, Feb 8, 2010 to urge media to give the state a fair reporting.
Although the facts and figures provided by the District Officer from the Land Office have clearly shown that there is no discrimination, some media continues to put on their front page that Malay stallholders are the victims.
CM Lim showed to media that between 2008 to 2010, only 30 illegal structures were demolished. Out of these 30, only 9 belongs to Malays. He also provided figures on obstructions of public areas in the Penang island during the Barisan Nasional administration. He said in 2006, a total of 167 illegal structures in the Penang island were found to be obstruction to public. Meanwhile, during Pakatan Rakyat ruling, only about 70-80 cases were found to be obstruction. This figure is not to be confused with demolition of illegal structures.
CM Lim said there are thousands of illegal structures or hawkers but the state will not take action on all of them because many of these have gone unreported. He said the state understand these traders need to earn a living too. Only those illegal structures which pose a risk, polluted the surrounding areas and received a lot of complaints from the people in the surrounding areas are being taken to task.
He asserted that the District Officer have acted on illegal structures based on administration level and not on racial matter. He seek the cooperation of the media to help the state to give a fair and factual reporting.
Video by Chan Lilian, Citizen Journalist
LGE: Fair reporting please!
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