Participants hold banners during a demonstration seeking the resignation of Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan in George Town July 15, 2016. — Picture by KE Ooi

GEORGE TOWN, July 15 — What was originally touted as a large-scale anti-Lim Guan Eng demonstration quickly fizzled into just a 10-man protest against the Penang chief minister this afternoon.

During the brief protest on the ground floor of Komtar, the group led by Ahmad Yakqub Nazri, held up banners with words like “Lim Guan Eng, where is your cat? Cat is dead? No more hypocrisy! LGEXit!” and “No to corrupt bungalow! Please resign!” while calling for Lim’s resignation.

Thirty-odd reporters and photographers covering the event outnumbered the protesters as they called for Lim’s resignation over the house purchase issue.

“We don’t want a corrupt chief minister. SPRM has done its job to investigate and bring him to court, he should resign,” Ahmad Yakqub said through a loudspeaker.

He said the state government’s CAT policy no longer stood for competency, accountability and transparency.

“It should be chapati, apom and thosai, at least we can eat it,” he said.

He also derided the DAP’s discussions of possible snap polls for the state, claiming it was only a ploy by Lim to try to garner support.

“Calling for state polls will not achieve anything,” he said, while telling Penangites they should not vote for a corrupt state government.

He called Lim a “talam dua muka” (hypocrite) for refusing to step down in light of the corruption charges brought against him.

Another speaker, Arshad Kassim, 54, also called for Lim to resign and told Penangites not to trust such a corrupt leader and state government.

Later at a press conference, Ahmad insisted that they didn’t want to organise a huge protest that could cause a disturbance to workers and people in Komtar.

“We are only here as individuals as a small group. We only want to get our message across. There is no need for a large group,” he said.

He claimed all were present as individuals and did not represent any political group or non-governmental organisations.

The small group gathered at the ground floor entrance to the state government’s administrative offices at about 2.30pm with a heavy police presence.

Some of the entrances were blocked, but the group showed no interest entering the offices.

The demonstration lasted about 20 minutes before participants dispersed, promising to hold more similar demonstrations in weeks to come.

Lim is facing two graft charges over the rezoning of a piece of land and over the purchase of his house but has not stepped down or taken leave from his posts in the state government.