The coalition of about 20 environmental and civil rights NGOs said although a dialogue it had organised last Sunday in George Town was about floods and its real causes, certain quarters had tried to distract from the matter by bringing in irrelevant controversial issues.
“No one should divert attention from the core issues of hillslope development and flooding in Penang that were put forward at ‘Penang Forum 8’ on Sunday,” its steering committee said in a statement today.
It said it was regrettable that certain parties were trying to create new issues by accusing one of the speakers, K Suthakar who was representing the Bandar Baru Air Itam Residents’ Association, of saying certain things that he had not uttered during the event.
“There is video evidence of what was actually said and the context in which they were said by someone in the audience,” the committee said.
“Suthakar spoke about the flooding issues in Bandar Baru Ayer Itam on behalf of concerned residents in the area and not on behalf of his employer,” it said, adding that floods had hit the township for the past two or three years.
Suthakar, who is employed as an editor in a news company, had earlier today said he would lodge a police report about a viral Whatsapp message falsely alleging that he had insulted Deepavali and Hindus by making certain remarks at the dialogue.
“This is defamatory and I am seeking legal advice,” he said.
The Penang Forum also said it was not a politically partisan group.
“The issues are political simply because almost every issue of public interest touches on politics,” it said.
“Civil society groups have the right to raise these issues in our struggle for the common good,” it added.
The videos in four parts of the dialogue can be viewed at:
penangforum.net/penang-forum-8/
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