GASB should not be let off so lightly - Karpal

Bukit Gelugor member of parliament Karpal Singh today decried the Sessions Court's sentence on General Accomplishment Sdn Bhd (GASB) for carrying out earth works on Bukit Relau here without written permission from the Penang Municipal Council.

He felt that the housing developer should not have been let off so lightly with only a RM30,000 fine, three years jail in default, for their destruction of Bukit Relau.

The DAP chairman further remarked that the Sessions Court should have asked one of the company directors, Tan Sri Tan Kok Ping, to explain why his company had defied the law.

"Unless there is an explanation, he (Kok Ping) should have been subjected to imprisonment. He is not above the law," Karpal told a press conference here today.

Karpal said Tan who was an experienced businessman and developer should set an example to others by complying with the law.

He stressed that the directors of GASB should be blacklisted for defying the law in order to prevent them from repeating the same action.

"Hills are the soul of Penang and they (GASB) destroyed it. It will take a very long time for the trees on the hills to grow back, let alone for the place to revert to its orginal state," he said.

On a separate note, Karpal said he was surprised by Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's statement that the Sedition Act should not be repealed.

He called upon the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak) to publicly recommit his stand and reconfirm what he had promised before the general election.

In July last year, Najib had announced that the 1948 law would be repealed but only after a substitute - National Harmony Act was introduced in its place.