KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 ― PKR’s Penanti assemblyman Norlela Ariffin urged people today to stop politicising the controversy surrounding an illegal factory in Sungai Lembu that saw the arrest of a Penang state executive councillor.
According to a report in The Star Online, Norlela said that politicising the issue further would make her own party, PKR, and their Pakatan Harapan partners hate her.
"Please do not politicise the issue, it will make Pakatan, DAP, Keadilan hate me," she reportedly said during a Facebook live session today.
Norlela previously claimed that she has been criticised by her own party colleagues and Pakatan Harapan colleagues for exposing the issues surrounding the illegal factory in her constituency that had been operating for over a decade.
Norela’s exposure of the issue led to a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) probe and the arrest of DAP’s state exco member Phee Boon Poh, and also turned the spotlight on the Penang state government for its alleged inaction over the matter.
"I am just a representative of the ‘rakyat’. I do not have the authority to arrest people, my power is only to raise the residents' complaints to the authorities, state assembly, and party meetings,” she said.
"But now my colleagues on the same team are angry and say I shouldn't have fought for this, then what is the use of a 'wakil rakyat'?” she added.
Norlela also insisted that she still wants the federal Opposition coalition to win the next general elections, but said she was merely doing her job as an elected representative in the case of the factory.
"I hope with this explanation, everyone will understand that I do not have the intention to go against the state government,” she said.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng previously claimed that no action was taken against the factory due to a state policy of not taking action against illegal structures put in place by Barisan Nasional (BN) before Lim became CM in 2008.
