CHIEF Minister Chow Kon Yeow’s presence as the Guest of Honour at the Penang Press Nite 2018 brought much joy for all who were present and even more so as he obliged the request made by Penang Press Club chairman Wong Soon Eng and sang two Cantonese oldies and a duet with his political secretary Teh Lai Heng.
The event commemorated the 43rd anniversary of Penang Press Employees’ Cooperative Society Ltd, the 62nd anniversary of Journalists’ Union of North Malaya and the 50th anniversary of Penang Press Club.
Chow, in his speech, also reminisced his political journey since they day he started work as political secretary to DAP leader Lim Kit Siang as well as criticisms towards the Pakatan Harapan government which is part and parcel of press freedom fought by the party.
“The relationship between the Penang media and Chow Kon Yeow started since the day I joined politics. Some of the veteran reporters here have witnessed my career path from the time I was political secretary to Mr Lim Kit Siang, to becoming the Penang state chairman, an elected representative of an Opposition party and for the past 10 years, as state executive councillor in Penang and today, as the new chief minister. Thank you for the friendship and for (being with me in) this political journey,” Chow said.
“Although Pakatan Harapan has formed the federal government, we cannot avoid from being criticized. When we were still the Opposition, we often fought for press freedom. Now, we are the government of the day at state and federal level, we cannot escape from criticism. We are willing to face and accept it even though some media practitioners are prone to be have selective reporting and blow up certain issues. I believe the rakyat are wise enough to differentiate the truth from misleading reports,” he added.
Also present were state exco member Chong Eng and Pulau Tikus assemblyman Lee Chun Kit.
Story by Victor Seow
Pix by Alvie Cheng