Guan Eng telling only half the truth, says PAS sec-gen

KUALA LUMPUR: PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali (pix) today slammed Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng for speaking only half the truth on the issue of holding local council elections which DAP is championing.
Mustafa said Lim's recent statement that he (Mustafa) was not opposed to the move was a total lie.
"Lim spoke half the truth...only a part of his statement was true while the other part was a lie...he is a loose cannon," he said at a news conference held at the PAS headquarters, here, today.
PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang had reportedly said that the DAP's push for local council elections be held in Penang could widen the economic gap between urban and rural residents and could also lead to a repeat of the May 13, 1969 racial riots.
In August last year, the Federal Court in Putrajaya ruled that the DAP-led Penang government had no jurisdiction to conduct local council elections.

Justice Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif who chaired a five-member panel said the state government could not exempt the application of Section 15 of the Local Government Act to the whole of Penang.
Section 15 abolishes the rights of the state legislatures to hold local government elections within the states.
Mustafa also challenged Lim to an open debate on the local council election issue.
On another note, Mustafa said PAS would not leave the opposition pact if opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim failed in his last appeal against a sodomy conviction and five-year jail term this Feb 10.
He said PAS would continue cooperating with its allies in the opposition group as this involved the parties and not individuals. – Bernama