Speech by Lim Guan Eng in the Penang DAP State Annual Convention at Pearl View Hotel in Prai, Penang on Saturday, 10^th December 2011: 

DAP's greatest twin successes in the last 45 years  

DAP's greatest twin successes in the last 45 years is becoming a partner in government, especially capturing power in Penang, and proving our competency in providing good governance for Penang. When we were in political wilderness, our leaders and members were not only hounded and persecuted by the BN government, we were also ridiculed and humiliated for daring to dream of a better Malaysia by replacing BN.

I would like to thank all our veteran leaders and members who have played an important historical role in DAP's march to history and power. Without your sacrifices and contribution in our glorious past we will not be here in the present today.

As difficult it is to win power, retaining power is equally difficult. We have to overcome not just inexperience but also skeptics from our political opponents to our own supporters who doubted our ability to govern well.

In our four years in power we have proven our record by not only treating all equally regardless of race, religion,gender or political background. The Penang PR state government will not implement hudud but has also increased allocation for Islam and funded Sekolah Agama Rakyat. We have also provided a fixed institutionalized funding for partially-assisted schools, set up a non-Muslim affairs EXCO position and given land to schools and temples as well as at least RM1 million annually to the Hindu Endowment Board.

We even increased allocation for women by more than ten times from RM 230,000 to nearly RM2.4 million annually.We have also and placed bilingual road sign of Bahasa Malaysia with either, English, Mandarin, Tamil or Arabaic. Only in Penang can you see Mandarin road signs in Peninsular Malaysia. Only in Penang can you see Tamil road signs in Malaysia. Can UMNO, MCA, Gerakan or MIC do that?

With the assistance from our veteran members, collaboration from new ones and co-operation from younger members we have delighted our supporters and proven the skeptics wrong by making Penang the best administered state. This is validated by the annual Auditor-General Reports as well as rare praise from Transparency International, the only state in Malaysia to receive such an accolade.

Social Programmes And Cash Handout Funded By Budget Surpluses Not By Loan Borrowings Increasing Debt

For the four years we are in power, we have recorded budget surpluses confirmed by none other than the Auditor-General. Don't trust MCA President Chua Soi Lek who says we have recorded deficits. He is only following the lies and deception of his masters in UMNO. If he still does not understand public accounts, don't worry I will send him a CD.

These surpluses have enabled us to carry out social programs. Not just the RM100 annually to senior citizens, OKU, single mothers and on death, a RM1,000 one-off payment for their beneficiaries. Not just the RM1,000 for students in government universities. Not just the one-off RM200 for new-born golden Penang child from 1.1.2011. Not just the annual RM 100 to golden students in Standard 1 &4, Form 1 % 4. Not just the money to schools, temples and NGOs.

But also money to build new roads. From Jalan Bagan 29 to bypass the Sungai Nyior Toll to Jalan P. Patto and the widening of roads from Jalan Song Bang Kheng to Jalan Masjid Negeri. But also money to upgrade all public markets in history. But also money to provide free buses in the heritage enclave of George Town and also free buses across Penang Bridge for workers in the FIZ. Most importantly of all RM500 million set aside to build quality affordable housing to enable the poor and lower-income groups to live with dignity.

Unlike BN, all these social programmes are financed through our budget surpluses. In contrast BN finances its social programmes through borrowing money as it has incurred budget deficits for the last 15 years. This is why BN can only make cash handout once every five years by BN unlike PR which is paid annually. These loans have caused the Federal debt to increase by 71% from RM 266 billion at end of 2008 to RM 456 billion at end of 2011. For Penang we have reduced our state debt from RM 630 million on 8 March 2008 to only RM30 million now, a 95% reduction amounting to RM600 million, the highest ever debt reduction by any state government in Malaysian history.

Has the previous BN government done in the last 51 years what we have done in the last 4 years, especially the RM500 millon Affordable Housing Fund?

Even reputable foreign media like the Economist and Bloomberg has praised us, whose views can not be bought. Penang has also received important foreign visitors since so long ago. From the Governors of Kanagawa Japan and Victoria Australia and Ministers from South Australia culminating in the Governor-General of Canada making the first official visit ever to Penang.

Indeed Penang leads. We have made a difference. We were the first state to wipe out hard-core poverty by ensuring that all households will receive at least RM600 a month. We intend to be the first state to wipe out our poverty by 2015.

There are now neither cronies nor corruption in Penang. There is no misues of public funds such as buying luxury condos instead of rearing cows. There is only open public tender done through internet. No more political cables replaced by computer cables. Penang is now not only cleaner, greener but also safer both administratively and literally.

Declaration Of Assets Of Penang EXCO Members Will Be Made Public Within A Month

These are changes that the people can see, touch and feel. Everyone who comes to Penang praises Penang for being cleaner and our government workers are really working. We have adopted 6 integrity measures:-

One, there must be a ban on political parties involvement in business which can only lead to conflict of interest. How can politics mix with business as the former seeks to uphold public interests whereas the latter is to pursue private benefit and profit? How wealthy political parties that are involved in business have become can be seen by MCA giving money to its members every year.

Two, the ban on mixing politics with business must be followed by establishing an open tender system to check crony capitalism. An open tender system ensures that unjust contracts such as the Independent Power Producers and the toll concession operators do not benefit the few with tens of billions of ringgit in extraordinary profits at the expense of the 27 million ordinary citizens. The shocking losses in RM5 billion Perwaja scandal, Port Klang Free Trade Zone scandal and the RM52 billion bumis shares scandal all adds up to more than US$ 100 billion estimated to be lost by Malaysians from corrupt or financial malpractices.

Third, a right to non-confidential information must be protected under the Freedom of Information Act to ensure transparency.

Fourthly, there must be a declaration of personal assets by public officials holding positions of public trust.

Fifth, there must be full and unconditional implementation of the 125 recommendations proposed by the 2005 Royal Commission on the Enhancement of the Management and Operation of PDRM, especially the formation of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commissionv(IPCMC). The IPCMC was intended to cut down abuses of police powers and police corruption. Failure to set up the IPCMC only shows the unwillingness of the BN government to deal with the negative public perception about the police.

Finally, the Elections Commission(EC) must be punished for failure to act or even failure to press for action by the relevant authorities on election bribery, especially failure to comply with the Election Offences Act 1954 imposing election spending limits of RM200,000 for every Parliamentary constituency and RM100,000 for evey state constituency. So blatant is this election spending limits rule violated that the Election Commission had admitted that RM 110 million was spent on election posters alone in the 2004 general elections.

With 219 parliamentary seats and 445 state seats contested in the 2004 general elections, the election spending limits is a maximum of RM 88.3 million. Clearly only BN can afford to spend RM 110 million on election posters in the 2004 general elections. And yet despite this astonishing self-revelation and admission by BN, no action was taken by the EC.

These 6 integrity measures can begin to cleanse Malaysia of corruption, cronyism and abuse of power. A fundamental step to return power to the people is to punish those who undertake corrupt actions, reduce opportunities for corruption, implement a national integrity system through appropriate laws and institutions.

Penang leads by adopting all 6 integrity measures. The Penang State EXCO has approved the public declaration of assets before we took office on 8 March 2011 and now. We hope to publish this in the internet by the latest within one month.

Running a clean government has brought about a new sense of confidence and optimism not just amongst the people but also amongst investors, leading Penang topping investment in Malaysia for the first time in history in 2010 with RM 12.24 billion. This year we have almost achieved our target of RM6.1 billion recording RM5.7 billion by the end of October 2011.

A Clean Green & Safe Future

What then of the future? We must fulfil their expectations as well as the promise of the future that protects and gives equal opportunity to our children. We are clean but we want to be also green and safe. Penang recorded the largest drop in crime in Malaysia last year of 27% and is expected to again repeat that feat this year. The Penang state government is seeking to seek the involvement of the people by introducing community policing with the establishment of the Pasukan Peronda Sukarela to make Penang the safest state in the country.

To be green, Penang needs to not just to only retain, train and retrain existing talent but also attract new human talent. We must stress on excellence in science and technology. Even though we are proud of being the first and only state to introduce no free plastic bag campaign all year round, we must do more.

Reasearch and development, creativity and innovation will help to Penang Green. The establishment of the Penang Science Council that is purely industry driven will help to build more future engineers and scientists. The astounding success of the Penang International Science Fair(PISF) at PISA yesterday is not only a testimony to the availability of young talent in Penang, the correct operational mechanism of being run by industry with minimal interference from the state government and the collaboration between what used to be intense competitive industry rivalry. The love fest amongst previous intense competitiors shown at the PISF yesterday was a remarkable event that shows how rivals with deep differences can work together for a cause larger than our individual selves.

This is Penang future. That we give everyone a chance to succeed. We give our kids equal opportunity to learn and excel. And we assist them by teaching them how to work together as a team. If there is anything that we learnt over the past 4 years, it is only when we work as a team do we succeed.

Thomas Jefferson said that when the people fear the government there is tyranny but when the government fears the people there is liberty. We show our respect for the people by trusting and having faith in their wisdom and intelligence. We allow peaceful demonstrations provided that they were peaceful and not violent. And yet there are no rioting, Penang is peaceful and the economy is as good as ever.

DAP opposes BN's Computing Professional Bill

That is why we do not fear to be criticised by establishing the first Speakers' Corner in Malaysia. That is why we pass the Freedom of Information Act to grant people the right of information. That is why DAP opposes the Computing Professional Bill that only registered IT professionals could only create software or computer applications for government use.

Computer program require the intrinsic value of freedom, intelligence and creativity that is not necessarily available from those with paper degrees. Would computer industry giants without a degree like Steve Jobs at Apple, Bill Gates at Microsoft or Mark Zuckerberg make it in Facebook if there was such a law restricting non-IT professionals? This is ridiculous and backward looking serving only to fuel suspicions that the BN government is trying to exert control over the internet.

We owe it to our founding members in DAP to deliver the promise of the future where we see each other as Malaysians that are prosperous, healthy, educated, free to choose and exercise their rights as well as living with dignity. Let Penang show the way how a good government is run and how leaders should look after everyone and not behave as racist and extremist leaders of only Malays, Chinese or Indians.

Let us succeed in transforming Penang into an international and intelligent city that will show the way forward to transforming Malaysia. The energy, the faith, the devotion which DAP leaders and members bring to this endeavour will light Penang and all who serve it. And the glow from that fire can truly light Malaysia.

A Cleaner, Greener and Safer Penang!

*Lim Guan Eng, DAP Secretary General & MP for Bagan