Penang Paradigm - Making Penang No. 1 in Malaysia
I am very pleased to be here today to launch the Penang Paradigm, which is a framework put together by the Penang Institute, under the leadership of its Executive Director, Professor Datuk Woo Wing Thye, to develop Penang as an international and intelligent state. Or to put it simply to make Penang No. 1 in Malaysia.
Allow me to start by putting on record my appreciation for the contributions of Professor Woo, who is a world-renowned economist and a former special advisor to the United States Treasury, the United Nations and the Government of China. Though Professor Woo is unique in his talents, he is at the same time merely one among hundreds of thousands of talented Penangites who were lost to our country through "brain drain" in previous decades, and who are starting to return to serve Penang since 2008, in a transformation of "brain drain" into "brain gain".
It is my long-held belief that Penang's most valuable export over the past 50 years has not been electronics or electrical goods, but human capital - the talented sons and daughters of Penang. And what a tragic export business this has been.
For decades the talented young people of Penang have left because of lack of educational opportunities, lack of economic opportunities, discrimination, corruption and lack of social justice. Penang's loss has been other countries' gain. Penang has given other countries their professors, doctors, engineers, chief justices and cabinet ministers. This state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue.
Ladies and gentlemen
Our vision is for Penang once again to be a regional hub that will build, upgrade, attract and retain international talent. Penang can only do this by becoming an international and intelligent state - one that educates and nurtures talent; one that promotes and rewards diligence, expertise and entrepreneurship; one that is liveable by being clean, green, safe and healthy; and one that practices integrity, justice and people-centric governance.
Since 2008, we have worked with this vision in mind, despite the numerous constraints that we have faced. We have introduced open competitive tenders and compulsory asset declarations for EXCO members to weed out corruption and cronyism. We have made State Government contracts available for the first time for public scrutiny. We have legislated and pushed for freedom of information and local government elections despite Federal obstruction and opposition.
By operating a clean and competent government, we have reversed a string of deficits by recording consecutive budget surpluses year after year since 2008, and have reduced the State debt by 95%. And these surpluses are put to good use by:-
giving cash aid to the poor, senior citizens, the disabled, students and for single mothers;
yearly allocations for Chinese, Tamil, missionary and Islamic religious schools;
carrying out infrastructure projects worth billions of ringgit to reduce traffic congestion throughout the state;
becoming the first state to allocate a RM500 million Affordable Housing Fund to build 19,172 units of the best quality that is managed by HDB Singapore;
andbecoming the first state to wipe out poverty in Malaysia in 2013 by ensuring a minimum household income of RM770 a month for every family in Penang, above the national Poverty Line Indicator (PLI) of RM763 a month.
In order to build on Penang's human capital, we have set up learning and training centres as well as an educational hub in Balik Pulau. We have provided free WiFi in public places. In the past five years, the arts and cultural scene in Penang has flourished with events such as the George Town Festival, and Penang has gained international renown for the revitalisation of our world heritage city.
In order to improve Penang's liveability, we have thought outside the box by introducing free park-and-ride and bus shuttle services; adopted green measures by banning free plastic bags, phasing out polystyrene and by introducing a conservation surcharge to limit water wastage. We are also seeking to take this thinking outside the box forward by offering Rapid Penang RM10 million every year to provide free bus services throughout Penang during peak hours which has not been taken up by the federal government.
Ladies and gentlemen,
All that we have done in the last five years we have achieved in spite of the constraints of Malaysia's over-centralised Federal system, where the Federal Government gets 94% of Government revenues and the States get only 6%, and where crucial local matters such as public transport - buses, ferries - and the airport and the Penang Port are all under Federal Government control.
Over the past 50 years, Penang has been badly neglected by the Federal Government, which has underinvested in Penang's public transport infrastructure and in her seaport and airport. Our airport runway is still smaller than Langkawi's, and too short to allow for the Airbus A380 to take off fully loaded. The iconic Penang ferry has simply been left to decline.
The Penang Port, which was the largest port in Malaysia in the 1950s and 60s, has been reduced to being a mere feeder port for Port Klang and Tanjung Pelepas in Johor. The Penang Channel has still not been dredged to allow larger ships to call at Penang, as was promised in the 9th Malaysia Plan, and the Penang Port Free Commercial Zone in Butterworth is too small to allow Penang to develop into a regional logistics hub.
All this needs to change if Penang is to reach its full potential as one of the principal powerhouses of the Malaysian economy. Despite being one of the smallest States in Malaysia, with only 6% of the national population, Penang held the top spot for foreign direct investment in Malaysia in 2010, repeating this feat in 2011, with foreign direct investment over the two years amounting to 28% of the national total. Penang contributed 25% of Malaysia's exports, and nearly two thirds of its medical tourism receipts.
The twin pillars of the Penang economy - tourism and manufacturing, both require adequate investment in Penang's hard and soft infrastructure if Penang and Malaysia are to flourish. For this reason, we have recently announced plans to construct a Third Link sea tunnel to improve the connectivity between the Island and the Mainland as well as other road projects to improve traffic flow in Penang Island and Seberang Perai. But more is needed to improve the airport, port, housing and public transportation infrastructure in Penang.
The Penang State Government has always been willing to cooperate with the Federal Government in order to get the best for Penang, and as we know, what is good for Penang is also good for Malaysia. Unfortunately the Federal Government has not fulfilled their promises to the state to jointly develop the Greater Penang Masterplan in 2011.
In order to facilitate this effort, the Penang State Government even shelved our own Penang Blueprint 2011-2015, at the request of Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dato' Seri Idris Jala, to make way for the Greater Penang Masterplan. We regret that despite participating in the labs organised by Idris Jala and completing the report more than a year ago, nothing has been heard of this since.
Ladies and gentlemen
The Penang Paradigm, which the State Government has commissioned the Penang Institute to prepare, is a framework for creating a balanced society: one that is economically dynamic, one that is liveable and sustainable, and one that provides democratic empowerment and social justice for all. It is a strategy for Penang's development over the next decade, whoever may be in government at the Federal level after the next two general elections.
Our strategic vision for Penang is based on Penang's greatest asset: its people. We believe that Penang can only become the place that Penangites deserve to live in if we have a people-centric government that invests in people, that educates and trains the people, that frees the people to innovate and engage in enterprise, and that liberates the people from ignorance, poverty and disability so that that they can be full participants in our economy and in our democracy.
We do not seek to manufacture economic growth through Government expenditure and spending by GLCs because we believe that the business of Government is to stay out of business. Instead we seek to turn Penang into a knowledge economy that emphasises science and technology and that relies on life-long learning and upskilling to generate human-capital-led growth.
Our belief that success and prosperity depends primarily on the people rather than on Government means recognising that in an increasingly globalised world, Penang must be able to fulfil a threefold "choice", that is, to be the habitat of choice for residents, the destination of choice for tourists and the location of choice for investors in setting up business.
Quality of life in Penang should not be just for the rich, but for all who live and stay in Penang. This requires quality affordable housing, efficient and effective public transport, green open spaces accessible to all, a clean and healthy natural environment and a vibrant arts, culture and heritage landscape.
Thirdly, our emphasis on people means that we believe that we cannot prosper and develop as a State and as a nation if women, ethnic minorities, the poor and the disabled are shut off from full participation in our economy and our democracy. People-centric government requires eradicating poverty, eradicating unfair discrimination and eradicating corruption and cronyism, which elevates private interests and private profits above the public good.
I believe that the Penang Paradigm is the insightful and pathbreaking model by Professor Dr Woo and his team in Penang Institute with Zairil Khir Johari as his CEO, to let Penang lead again. We can make Penang No. 1 in Malaysia as a balanced society and an international and intelligent State.
Making Penang No.1 in Malaysia is possible. After all Penang achieved international recognition in 2011 when being selected by Yahoo Travel as No. 8 top island in the world you must see before you die. This year George Town became the No.4 top place for retirement in the world, becoming the only Asian city in the top 8 list. And in 2011 and 2012, George Town became the most livable city for the first time in Malaysian history, surpassing Kuala Lumpur for the first time ever.
Let us work hard and prepare for Penang as No. 1 in Malaysia. Thank you.
