Press Statement by Lim Guan Eng in Petaling Jaya on Tuesday, 12^th February 2008: 

BN can not be trusted again with repeating the 2004 general elections victory winning a 91% parliamentary mandate because escalating crime, high prices/inflation and rising corruption have shown how absolute power corrupts absolutely 

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak asked the right question whether BN or opposition leaders can be trusted. However he gave the wrong answer when he claimed that BN had delivered all its promises. Opposition leaders have played our democratic role in providing checks and balances as well as exposing and monitoring government abuses and corrupt practices.

For instance, he praised Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam for being fair to 3 Chinese primary schools by announcing allocations. Is Najib going to ask Mohd Ali to withdraw and apologise to the Chinese community for declaring after the 2004 general elections that no new Chinese primary schools should be built to strengthen national unity by encouraging all students to attend national primary schools?

BN has failed to provide good governance and implemented policies that benefited the people. Instead of distributing money to the people to reduce their financial hardships caused by rising prices, the government is more interested in wasting money on huge profits to benefit the few contractors and BN cronies. BN can not simply be trusted again with repeating the 2004 general elections victory in winning a 91% parliamentary mandate because escalating crime, high prices/inflation and rising corruption has shown how absolute power corrupts absolutely.

DAP can not understand the logic of Information Minister Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin saying that BN needed a big mandate in the coming general election to help run the country more efficiently when the facts prove otherwise. Since the 2004 general elections, the people have seen more corruption with Malaysia dropping the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI) from No. 37 when Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took over as Prime Minister in 2003 to No. 43 last year.

There have been rising inflation running at more than 20%, which BN tried to hide with lies that it is only 2% in 2007. Crime has escalated by more than 50% since Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took over as Prime Minister. Instead of adopting DAP’s policies of distributing Petronas profits of a yearly RM 6,000 to lower middle-income families as well as setting up the IPCMC and employing 100,000 extra police personnel to patrol the streets, there has been no response by BN to come up with immediate solutions to crime and inflation.

Giving BN a huge parliamentary mandate of 91% of the seats have not improved Malaysians’ quality of life, have not made us feel safer in our homes or to walk in the streets or improved the delivery of government services. Instead there is a gaping feeling of loss of failing to realize our potential. The feeling of loss that Malaysian can do so much better with all the natural and human resources at our disposal and yet have failed to perform to expectations.

Malaysians can do better if we dare to demand changes from BN’s divisive and discriminatory policies to those that emphasizes performance, merit and integrity as well as stresses on the content of our character than the colour of the skin of all Malaysians. In this respect DAP leaders have never benefited privately at the expense of public interest and instead shown our readiness to sacrifice personal liberty for principles of a better Malaysia. Reducing BN’s majority by denying it a 2/3 majority is a safer and sounder choice than repeating BN’s huge 91% parliamentary win.

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* Lim Guan Eng, DAP Secretary-General