The state vehicles, which comprise mostly Toyota Camrys and Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s Mercedes-Benz, were handed over to state secretary Farizan Darus.
“We are following convention as a caretaker government, to show that the powers have been returned to the people, and that we are respecting the principles of democracy.
“I hope other state governments will emulate the Penang and Selangor state governments in returning the official vehicles,” Lim said in a press conference today.
Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general, also urged politicians with private jets or helicopters to return them, calling on them to fork out their own money for chartered flights.
On Kelantan’s decision not to return the state vehicles on the basis that it was still a caretaker government, Lim said the east coast state was following the Umno way, and that it was up to it to do so.
When asked whether he would follow in Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali’s steps and take a Grab car home, Lim said they would either use their own cars, walk, or take advantage of the many free buses introduced by the state government under the purview of state local government, traffic management and flood mitigation committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow.
Azmin reportedly used the ride-sharing platform to get home after leading his state executive councillors in returning their official cars to the state secretary, following the dissolution of the Selangor state assembly on Monday.
Parliament was dissolved on April 10, paving the way for the 14th general election (GE14).
At its meeting yesterday, the Election Commission (EC) set May 9, a Wednesday, as polling day for GE14 with early voting on May 5.
Nomination day is fixed on Saturday, April 28 and the campaign period is from April 28 to May 8.
Government schools in the country will be given a day off on May 9, to enable them to be used as polling centres.
EC chairman Mohd Hashim Abdullah said there were 14,940,624 registered voters. Of the total, 13,255 are early voters and 3,653 are overseas voters.