THE state government has not received any information regarding the alleged leak of the honorary title recipients’ list in conjunction with the 75th birthday celebration of Penang Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Ahmad Fuzi Abdul Razak, says Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.
Chow explained that the Penang Yang di-Pertua Negeri annually confers honorary titles to individuals who have contributed to society, and there are stringent criteria to ensure the recipients are deserving of the honours.
He made these remarks when asked by a reporter about the rumoured leak after launching the book, ‘Musings by George Yeo’, at Jen Hotel in Penang today.
“Once an individual is conferred an honorary title, their name will be locked in the system for three to four years, preventing the person from registering for another title until the period has expired.
“Apart from automatically locking the conferred names, other screening processes include verification through police and the Malaysian Insolvency Department systems to ensure that the applicants for honorary titles meet the qualifications,” he said.
When asked whether the state government intends to restart the reclamation of two other artificial islands in the Penang South Islands reclamation project, Chow emphasised that the state government had previously decided to scale down the project to reclaim only Island ‘A’, now known as ‘Silicon Island’, and this decision has not changed.
“Reclaiming Island ‘A’ itself will require many years and effort to complete. Thus, we remain focused on developing this island,” Chow said.
He further explained that while the initially proposed three artificial islands under the Penang South Islands plan were included in the Penang Structure Plan 2030 (RSN), their execution will depend on future policies.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Adleena Rahayu Ahmad Radzi