GEORGE TOWN: Zairil Khir Johari, the incumbent Bukit Bendera member of parliament (MP) and DAP candidate for the Tanjung Bungah state seat, did little to support residents on environmental issues.
Incumbent Tanjung Bungah assemblyman Teh Yee Cheu, who left DAP recently after failing to see eye-to-eye with party leaders, said he was the only one who had championed environmental issues to ensure the stability of the ecosystem and people’s safety.
“I never heard him (Zairil) champion protests on environmental issues in Tanjung Bungah, even though questions and protest letters were sent to him by e-mail,” he told New Straits Times today.
“I think it could be due to the fact that I was always opposed to hillslope developments in Tanjung Bungah after complaints were sent to my office.”
A meet-the-people session at the Miami Green Resort Condominium here on Sunday turned into a “bashing exercise” against Zairil.
Disgruntled residents, who are unhappy about a highrise hillslope development in their backyard, lashed out at the DAP representative as he addressed the crowd.
His opponet for the Tanjung Bungah state seat, Parti Rakyat Malaysia’s Chua Cheong Wee, who was present, also launched a salvo at Zairil, saying constituents did not need a ‘Yes Man’ to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
Zairil had then claimed ignorance of the Miami Green Resort Condominium residents’ plight, stressing that only assemblymen were given a copy of plans for development projects in their constituencies and not the MPs.
Despite coming under fire, Zairil took it all in his stride and continued to defend the DAP-led administration’s policy on highrise hillslope development projects.