Questions raised on credibility of awards given to Penang Councils

GEORGE TOWN: Questions are being asked about the credibility of awards received by the Penang Island City Council and the Seberang Perai Municipal Council from the European Business Assembly (EBA).
Pulau Betong assemblyman Datuk Muhammad Farid Saad told the state and Councils to come clean over the matter following a report in a Mandarin language daily on Wednesday.
He said the EBA was appeared not to be a credible organisation and asked if the two Councils paid for the awards.
"Has money from the people of Penang been used to obtain those awards? Have they in their desire to showcase the state government 'membayar wang' (paid money) to get the recognition from a 'bogus' organisation?
"It will be very regrettable and shameful for Penang if both Councils had paid the EPA to get the awards in 2013 and in 2014. Such an act is no different from those who buy degrees from online universities," he said in a statement today.
In March 2013, then Penang Island Municipal Council President Datuk Patahiyah Ismail obtained the "Best Municipal Manager" award while the Council itself obtained the "Best Municipality Award" from the EBA.
In July 2014, the Seberang Perai Municipal Council was given the "Best City Award" while then Council president Datuk Maimunah Mohd Sharif obtained the "Best City Manager Award" from the EBA.
According to the EBA website, the organisation is an independent corporation of economic, social and humanitarian collaboration founded in Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) in 2000.
"The main mission of the institutions and representative offices of EBA (and its strategic partners) is to form a positive image of the regions, companies and personalities in the European business community," the "Activity" section of the "About
Us" portion reads.
In response, the City Council said it was nominated for the two awards in 2013 and received them in July the same year.
"We are regretful of the report which says the awards is suspected to be fake. The Council will request the organisers to reconfirm and reverify the awards received," a brief statement said.
Meanwhile, Penang Local Government, Traffic Management and Flood Mitigation Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said the state regretted the two Councils are embroiled in a controversy involving awards and recognitions.
He said the Councils have been reminded to focus on delivering the services and the people's satisfaction would be the best form of recognition.
He pointed out both Council have performed well as they have "received various types of awards and recognitions from the various Federal ministries, departments and institutions, professional bodies and accreditation agencies".
"We applaud them for their achievements including the 5-star rating for local authorities bestowed by the Housing and Local Government Ministry," he said in a statement and hoped the Councils would be more discerning in the future.