GEORGE TOWN: The Penang State Assembly will convene on April 17 for half-a-day to fulfill the requirement of the state constitution, according to Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow (pix).
‘’After discussing with the State Assembly Speaker, the State Executive Council Meeting (MMK) just now has agreed for the sitting to be shortened to half-a-day and there will be no guard-of-honour ceremony.
‘’And the launching of the sitting would commence with the message of the Yang DiPertua Negeri of Penang,’’ he told a media conference which was aired live through his personal Facebook after chairing the MMK, here today.
Chow said he would pay an official visit on the Penang Yang DiPertua Negeri Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas this week, for Abdul Rahman to call for a State Assembly sitting on the date in question.
He said the state government had to comply with the Penang State Constitution especially Article 119(1) which stipulated that the Yang DiPertua Negeri must call for a State Assembly sitting from time to time and and could not allow six months to pass from the last sitting in one term with the stipulated date for its first sitting in a subsequent term.
‘’The six month period (from the previous State Assembly sitting) ends on May 7, 2020 and I hope the Yang DiPertua Negeri will agree with the arrangement of the State Assembly this time following the COVID-19 pandemic which we are now facing,’’ he said. - Bernama
