Guan Eng turns down PBT debate - The Sun

By Himanshu Bhatt

PENANG (May 02, 2008): Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has turned down the challenge for an open public debate on the contentious issues surrounding the Pertubuhan Bunga Tanjung (PBT), saying that the matter demands legal and technical understanding.

He however welcomed members of the PBT, the organisation for wives of BN elected representatives in Penang, who had invited him to publicly debate the matter, to meet him for discussion.

“This is a question of law. There are implications… Did they act properly? Were they qualified to dissolve the body on March 9?”

Lim reiterated that he wants Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, as adviser of the organisation and husband of PBT head Puan Sri Chui Kah Peng, to explain how they could decide on dissolving the body at its AGM on March 9.

He reasoned that the members’ husbands had then become part of the opposition following the general election the day before, and asked if the wives were still eligible to be PBT members then.

He pointed to Clause 5.1 of the PBT’s constitution which states that the ordinary membership of the group includes wives of state assemblymen and members of Parliament in Penang, except those from opposition parties.

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