Speech At Kg Cempaka Thanksgiving Dinner
by Lim Guan Eng  

(Petaling Jaya, Friday): Selangor’s integrity and credibility as a developed state was exposed by the United Nations Human Development (UNHD) Report 2005 to be a complete lie with a Human Development Indicator(HDI) of only 0.817 as compared to New Zealand’s HDI of 0.933. The HDI focuses on three measurable dimensions of human development -- living a long and healthy life, being educated and having a decent standard of living.

When Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Dr Mohd Khir Toyo unilaterally declared Selangor as a developed state on 27 August 2005, he proudly claimed a study showed:- 
 

·        Selangor is more developed than New Zealand,

·        Selangor has better university education than Singapore; and

·        Selangor is less corrupt and cleaner than Belgium.

Selangor’s study is based on a World Competitivenesss Report developed by the Swiss-based International Institute for Management Development, using only 75 indicators as compared to the benchmarked 314 indicators. Thus few would be convinced that Selangor is more developed than New Zealand or that Selangor possesses better universities than Singapore. Most astounding of all is the claim that corruption is effectively controlled in Selangor until Selangor is cleaner than Belgium.

Belgium’s capital (Brussels) houses the European Commission. Belgium’s effectiveness in checking corruption is substantiated by Transparency International which placed Belgium as No. 17 in the World Corruption Perceptions Index(CPI). Belgium scored 7.5 out of 10 points in the CPI whilst Malaysia at No. 39, barely passed with 5 out of 10 points. Selangor is definitely not cleaner or less corrupt than Belgium.

The UNHD Report 2005 released yesterday has confirmed that New Zealand’s HDI of 0.933 is more developed than Selangor’s HDI of only 0.817. New Zealand is ranked No. 19 out of 177 countries. With a HDI of only 0.817, Selangor would be ranked No. 52, on par with Cuba but better than Malaysia. Claims that Selangorians, particularly those living in squatter homes, enjoy a per capita income of US$12,876 (RM48,928.80) is ridiculous as how many actually earns RM 4,000/- monthly?

Clearly Selangor has yet to achieve developed status despite declaring a zero squatter policy. Such declaration has caused problems for residents like Kampung Cempaka who are forcibly evicted from their homes just to justify Mohd Khir Toyo’s lies that Selangor is a developed state. If not for DAP leaders like DAP International Secretary Sdr Ronnie Liu, the residents of Kampung Cempaka would be left without compensation and no roof over their heads. The time has come to support the DAP that stands for the poor and not MCA who stand with the rich to evict the poor.