THE new Penang government exco is the strongest possible line-up the new Pakatan Harapan administration can put together, Chow Kon Yeow said.

The chief minister said the administration decided to maintain the status quo in the number of exco positions allocated to the PH component parties.

“We feel this is the strongest line-up that can help the Penang government perform over the next five years and fulfil its 68 manifesto pledges,” he said at a press conference in Komtar this afternoon.

Penang just swore in its 10 state government excos this morning. They all came from DAP and PKR, the two parties that won 33 out of 37 state seats held by PH in Penang.

Chow said that the decision not to appoint Bersatu and Amanah representatives as excos was “made in the PH spirit”.

The two new parties won only two state seats each in the May 9 polls.

“In allocations for ministerial and state exco positions, it is common to get less than what we want or even not at all. In some states, DAP won the most seats, but the chief minister is not from DAP.

“But that is the PH spirit of moving forward from winning the election,” he said.

Chow said taking on the transport portfolio would enable him to oversee traffic management, major infrastructure projects in the Penang Transport Master Plan, and the undersea tunnel and three-highway project.

“They are big challenges but I will continue the work I had started since the drafting of the master plan.

“When the infrastructure projects are eventually implemented, some of the responsibility may be handed over to the exco in charge of public works,” he said.

In the previous term, Chow handled local government, traffic management and flood mitigation.

The local government portfolio is now under Jagdeep Singh Deo, who also handles housing and town and country planning.

Flood mitigation is now overseen by Zairil Khir Johari, who also handles public works and utilities.

“All the difficult portfolios have been taken from me,” he joked.

Chow said being both chief minister and MP for Tanjong would enable him to speak for Penang in Parliament.

“After 10 years handling the most challenging portfolios in government, I hope to better manage my time to bring up Penang issues to the ministers at the Dewan Rakyat.

“(Former chief minister) Lim Guan Eng was also both chief minister and MP in the last 10 years, and he used his positions well to highlight Penang issues to the federal government. I intend to do the same,” he said.

Chow said the PH administration was nominating Law Choo Kiang as state legislative assembly speaker.

“We are planning a special assembly sitting early next month to appoint the speaker. If there are other names nominated, we will have to put it to a vote.

“We will later decide who should be the deputy speaker,” he said.

Law, from PKR, has been speaker since 2013. He was formerly the Bukit Tambun assemblyman. He did not contest in the recent polls. – May 16, 2018.