Media Conference

by Lim Guan Eng

(Penang, Wednesday): A dynamic leadership is required in Penang to tackle politics of submission, economic problems of stagnation, poor governance and social injustice of neglect of workers welfare. Penang Chief Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon's violent attacks against DAP is an attempt to hide serious defects and flaws in his administration. However DAP will not be distracted by such desperate tactics of Koh from focusing on real issues that confront the 1.5 million people of Penang.

Gerakan’s Politics of Submission

UMNO is the dominant factor in Penang. Even though UMNO has 14 seats out of 40 state seats, politics of submission to UMNO is a political fact. Politics of submission has allowed UMNO to be above the law in Penang.

Even a 4-term Chief Minister like Tsu Koon can be publicly humiliated by UMNO Youth in front of the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The public perception is "what UMNO wants, UMNO gets". There was a change in the General Manager of Perkhidmatan Bekalan Air Pulau Pinang following UMNO's demands whilst there was no change in the management of Penang Port Sdn Bhd (PPSB) despite unhappiness expressed by Koh Tsu Koon at PPSB.

Another example of what UMNO wants, UMNO gets is when the Deputy Chief Minster of Penang Datuk Seri Abdul Rashid intervened to get the Chinese temple Tow Boo Keong in Bukit Mertajam demolished. However the new UMNO Tanjung Division building was not demolished even though both the MPPP President Datuk Abu Bakar and Penang State EXCO member Datuk Dr Teng Hock Nan said there was no legal approval and it was built on private land not owned by UMNO Tanjung. Why such double-standards and disrespect of the law?

Tsu Koon must stop such politics of submission. Tsu Koon should assert his powers as Chief Minister who was elected by a majority of Penang voters in the 2004 general elections to be their Chief Minister. The failure by UMNO to respect the choice of voters is not only undemocratic, that Tsu Koon is “in office but not in power” but also demonstrates a breakdown of BN’s consultative mechanism.

If a 4-term Chief Minister like Tsu Koon can not even handle UMNO division leaders or exert authority over his own administration, it is unlikely that a new Gerakan Chief Minister have the courage and ability to deal with UMNO demands after the next general elections? Dealing with UMNO would become crucial after the next general elections when the constituency delineation would be redrawn and UMNO’s demands for more seats will have major impact on the future political structure of Penang. Would a new Gerakan Chief Minister or even Tsu Koon dare to say “No” to UMNO’s demands for more seats and its ultimate objective of taking over the Chief Minister’s post?

As long as both Gerakan and MCA subscribes to this politics of submission, only a stronger DAP representation in the State Assembly can play a "check and balance" role in confronting and opposing UMNO's political ambitions. Politics of submission has resulted in dispersal of powers and lack of dynamism in state leadership as shown by the following problems faced by the state in particular economic stagnation, poor governance of local councils and social injustice of neglecting workers' welfare.

6 Causes of Penang’s Economic Stagnation Of 3 Shortages And 3 Incompetencies

Penang used to be the leading economic state in Malaysia. However economic stagnation has set in and Selangor declared itself to be the first developed state in Malaysia last year.

Penang’s economic stagnation has been proven not only be sentiments expressed by businessmen but also by facts and figures. According to the Ninth Malaysian Plan(9MP), Penang ranked third in growth ratre for the period 2001-2010. Penang ranked No. 2 under the Development Composite Index after Kuala Lumpur.

Penang’s mean monthly household income of RM 3,531 in 2004 ranks a distant third after Selangor’s RM 5,175 and Kuala Lumpur’s RM 5,011. The most damaging indictment of Penag’s economic stagnation is that Penang recorded the lowest average annual growth rate in mean monthly household income in Malaysia of only 2.5%% from 2000-2004(9MP). Even Sabah, the poorest state in Malaysia, recorded higher average annual growth rate mean monthly household income of 5.5% during the same period. 

There are 6 causes of Penang’s economic stagnation which I’ll term as 3 shortages and 3 incompetencies:

1. Shortage of skilled labour;
2. Shortage of development capacity, especially land and economic opportunities;
3. Shortage of funding resources;
4. Incompetent in being competitive and productive in facing up to the challenges of globalization;
5. Incompetent in sustaining growth in critical sectors like manufacturing, services, tourism and agro-based industry; and
6. Incompetent in fair and equitable distribution of wealth resulting in widening income disparity between the rich and poor.

Penang’s economic stagnation is even evident in the private education sector. As the leading center of learning and having the most educated workforce in the past, with USM as the second public university in the country, Penang trails badly in private higher education industry.

There were only 17,445 students in Institusi Pengajian Tinggi Swasta(IPTS) in Penang in 2002 or 6% out of a total of 294,600 IPTS students in the country in 2002. Even this number declined to only 14,770 in 2005. In comparison, a small state like Melaka has more IPTS students of 19,585 students.

Revenue lost due to failure by Penang to achieve its potential is expected to reach RM 332 milllion annually if higher education industry fails to achieve its potential by 2010. This is much more than the RM 250 million a year of state revenue collected by the state government.

There must be investment in education. Equally important education must be merit-based. Relying on quotas would not allow us to compete globally. Unless we are qualified and trained, we will not only be left behind by countries like China and India but may even lose out to Thailand and Vietnam.

Penang does not encourage private sector initiatives. Adapting and following UMNO’s policies of quotas under the New Economic Policy has resulted in severe demand and supply imbalances as well price distortions. Many Malay academicians are beginning to oppose the NEP and its quota system because it does not help Malays but only breeds corruption and cronyism. This is shown by the RM 3 billion 2nd Penang bridge project being directly awarded to UMNO-related UEM World without open or competitive tender.

What happened to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's promise of having open and competitive tenders? The NEP and quotas should not be allowed to hide corruption and abuses of power. The time has come to abolish quotas including the housing quota policy that has caused cash shortfalls for developers, price rises for non-bumi housebuyers and unsold houses and units that are unproductive.

The administrative and bureaucratic red tape is so serious that Tan Sri Loy Yow Chuan of AP Land complained of 4 development projects delayed by MPPP and there are calls for the Penang Development Corporation(PDC) and InvestPenang, the state's investment arm, to be disbanded.

Komag Inc out-going chief executive officer Datuk T.H. Tan (the only Malaysian-born person to head a public-listed American company) said InvestPenang lacked power and co-ordination and openly said he was fed up at its failure to support the setting up of factories by local and foreign small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs).

Tan even said in The Star on 20/9/2006 that: "I have raised these issues with Dr Koh in the past two years but nothing has been done to resolve them. I had even sent e-mails to him but did not receive any reply," he said. Why can't there be a one-stop agency to handle all procedures relating to investment and setting up of SMEs?

Instead of blindly following UMNO's policies, a dynamic leadership in Penang should allow both the market and political system to operate and do what it does best. The political process stresses on equity that can guarantee access for all, whereas the market system ensures efficient allocation of resources that improves productivity and effective delivery.

Poor Governance Of Local Councis Causing Transportation Crisis And Unsatisfactory Public Amenities And Services

Poor governance of local councils, the lack of accountability and transparency has caused a severe transportation crisis, poor drainiage causing floodings, unsatisfactory public amenities and services. Despite their poor performance and record, local councils continue to increase assessment rates. Such increases in assessment rates should not be allowed until the local governments perform.

Tsu Koon refusal to allow local government elections shows his lack of commitment towards democracy. His government’s failure to resolve such basic problems like public transport, floodings and poor services demonstrates again the politics of submission as UMNO decideS on this question. Otherwise why can’t he employ experts whether local or overseas to resolve such problems.

Social Injustice Of Neglect Of Workers Welfare