THE Penang government today justified having DAP representatives hold eight out of the state’s 11 exco positions, with the remaining three held by other Pakatan Harapan members, saying that appointments should not be made by merely referring to the size of the party.

During question time at the state legislative assembly this morning, Norlela Ariffin (PH-Penanti) had questioned the allocation of exco portfolios, saying they should be distributed more equally among the PH parties.

In Penang, DAP is the most dominant party, holding 19 out of 40 state seats. It has eight excos, including Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.

PKR, which has 14 state seats, has three excos. Meanwhile, new PH parties Bersatu and Amanah that have two seats each have no exco positions.

Norlela, a two-term PKR rep, pointed out that other PH partners jointly held almost as many seats as DAP’s 19.

If PKR, Bersatu and Amanah put their seats together, they would have 18. The other three seats in Penang are held by Barisan Nasional and PAS. As such, Norlela implied that the non-DAP parties should have more exco seats than the three.

However, Chow said the distribution of excos was made via consensus and other considerations, adding that if it was to go by Norlela’s criteria, the country’s prime minister would not be from Bersatu.

 “If we go by your justification, then the prime minister should come from another party. But I am not saying so,” Chow said, drawing some giggles in the House.

Bersatu holds only 13 federal seats, compared to PKR’s 50 and DAP’s 42 seats. But its chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad is the prime minister, chosen by consensus.

“The prime minister should not be from a small party but that was the decision made by the party (PH), which we should respect,” Chow added.

In her oral question, Norlela also questioned why critical exco committees like flood mitigation was not open to assemblymen from affected areas, which would enable the committee members to serve more effectively.

Chow in his reply said there were 30 exco committees in the state government, with each having a maximum five assemblymen as committee members.

He said all assemblymen were given the choice to join the committees according to their priorities, and the committees were also allowed to add more members if there were applications from more assemblymen to join.

“But some committee, like flood mitigation, gets too many applications. So the selection has to be made based on priority and the vacancy at other committees.

“But it is possible to add more members in the committees if the assemblymen have strong justification.

“Also, assemblymen can still raise their concerns with the exco in charge of flood mitigation, even if they are not part of the committee.” – August 7, 2018.