PENANG Forum today said its dialogue on Sunday was on floods and hillslope developments, and attention should not be diverted from these issues. 

The dialogue has been widely reported in the media, with criticism mounted against the state government due to the absence of most of its assemblymen at the discussion. 

The attention has now shifted to remarks made by certain individuals at the dialogue. 

“It is regrettable that certain parties are trying to create new issues by accusing K. Suthakar, the representative of the Bandar Baru Air Itam residents’ association, of saying certain things that he did not mention in his speech during the dialogue. 

“There is video evidence of what was actually said and the context in which they were said by someone in the audience,” the Penang Forum steering committee said. 

The video, in four parts, can be viewed on the group’s Facebook page and website penangforum.net. 

The group said Suthakar was speaking about the flood issue on behalf of residents in Bandar Baru Air Itam, not his employer. Suthakar is regional news editor at The Star in Penang. 

“We wish to reiterate that Penang Forum is not a partisan group. The issues are political simply because almost every issue of public interest touches on the political. 

“Civil society groups have the right to raise these issues in our struggle for the common good,” the group said. 

Earlier today, Penang Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy said certain people with political agendas had attended the dialogue while pretending to be members of the civil society. 

He said the dialogue had turned into a government-bashing event. 

He also censured an individual for uttering a remark that made light of Deepavali. – October 31, 2017.