Monday, June 10, 2013

DOING THE WRONG THINGS

Former Minister Dr.Ng Yen Yen is famous for doing the wrong things. Take the recent Chinese New Year with the celebrations  falling hand in hand with the country’s  13th General Election, and tension were high on a certain side of the political battlefield, some went as far as creating a brawl over removals of banners.

Tourism Minister, Dr Ng Yen Yen has condemned Penang’s Majlis Perbandaran Seberang Perai, MPSP (Seberang Perai Municipal Council) for carrying out its responsibility in taking down banners bearing the images of Prime Minister Najib Razak put up without permit — a matter Ng called as ‘unbecoming’.

Ng claimed to receive reports that some people have stepped on the banners after they have been brought down, provoking Ng to demand an apology from Penang Chief Minister, for the ‘disrespectful behaviour’.

According to Ng, who is also MCA Vice President, stepping on the Prime Minister’s image also meant ‘stepping on Malaysia’. Can you imagine that.

The ubiquitous banners, depicting Najib donning a traditional Chinese dress in striking red,which most people believe was Ng Yen Yen's clever idea replete with his Chinese New Year wishes written in Mandarin, have been spotted in many parts of the country — particularly in areas with a sizeable ethnic Chinese presence, to commemorate  the Year of the Snake.

Photos of the banners were shared quickly all over the social media, with many describing the banners as ‘weird-looking’ and ‘distasteful’. Some has even likened the dress Najib is wearing to the dress worn usually by the dead in Chinese funeral ceremonies, creating a sort of cultural faux pas. Thanks to Ng Yen Yen.


Responding to Ng’s statement, MPSP councilor Steven Sim has defended his local council’s acts against the minister’s flak, saying that Ng was being disrespectful by ‘insulting’ the MPSP workers that were merely carrying out their duty by removing the illegally put banners.

Finding Ng’s claim as baseless, Sim also believed that Ng has ‘insulted the wisdom’ of the people, particularly those of the MPSP workers and Penangites. According to the online portal Malaysiakini, Sim said ‘Ng should know better’, stressing that laws and regulations must be followed.

“Does she [Ng] mean that it is all right to break the law, just because it involves the PM, or Najib?” Sim questioned.

Sim, also Penang DAPSY Publicity Secretary, said that Ng should offer her apologies to MPSP, asking Ng, MCA and BN to ‘be thankful’ towards MPSP instead since the mainland Penang local council has ‘covered up the shame’ of the prime minister, for Penang BN had ‘broken the law by putting up streamers without a permit’.

“Is Ng saying that the workers were wrong in carrying out their duties? She should apologise to MPSP and its workers for her insulting statement criticising MPSP’s official work.”
Further explaining the removal of the banners, Sim said the MPSP workers were just carrying out their normal duties around the Bagan area when they spotted the illegal banners put up by Penang BN.

Stressing that the particular ‘illegal banner removal operation’ has included other banners that were not related to BN or Najib, Sim released that 971 banners have been removed that day during the operation. Out of the total number, 678 were Najib’s banners.

Reminding Ng of the Penang Pakatan Rakyat-led state administration and local councils’ practices of CAT — competency, accountability and transparency — Sim remains adamant that action would be taken to ‘no matter who made a mistake’, whether it is the minister or the prime minister.

Sim later offered the Member of Parliament for Raub a piece useful advice, hinting Ng that, instead of being a minister who oversees streamers with Najib’s face all the way in Penang, it is better for her to take care of the people in her own constituency.

1 comment:

  1. Wow, suddenly so many stories on the former tourism minister. Your latest article is outdated considering that Ng Yen Yen don't have a constituency now and the issues you are fanning are all pre-election. Are you on a witch hunt or blame game?

    ReplyDelete