DAP will not press ahead with our proposal to dissolve the Penang State assembly and conduct state general election. This decision was made following quick consultation with party leaders and the Penang state leadership after PKR Deputy President and Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali informed me yesterday, that the PKR leadership did not agree with having early polls.
Datuk Seri Azmin, PKR Vice-President Nurul Izzah and PKR National Elections Director Saifudin Nasution had earlier met myself and Penang State Chair Chow Kon Yeow in Penang on 20.7.2016, to listen to our reasons for a state general election. We had explained that it would be be a pro-active strategy not just to let the people decide, whether I should continue as Penang Chief Minister whilst facing the trumped-up corruption allegations against me, but more importantly to pass a verdict on the historic act by the US Attorney-General, of seeking a seizure of US1 billion of assets stolen by 1MDB from Malaysians.
It is not wrong to return the mandate back to the people because this is part and parcel of democracy. That we do not fear to return the mandate back to the people to decide on the latest exposes of the 1MDB scandal as well as the authority, credibility and legitimacy of the Penang state government led by me, is the correct strategy when BN opposed the holding of state general election. There is no reason for BN to oppose when they had held state elections different from national election in Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak.
During that meeting on 20 July, justifiable concern about the state general elections was raised, in that PKR risked losing more seats than DAP. A proposal was made of DAP giving up one or two of our existing state seats in Penang to PKR to make the proposal more acceptable to the PKR leadership. However, we stated that this was not feasible.
Following the disagreement of PKR to a state general election, the DAP will not proceed with proposals for a state general election. Even though Amanah had agreed with DAP, we had announced that DAP will not make such a decision unilaterally but through a consensus of all 3 parties within Pakatan Harapan.
DAP upholds the collective consultative process. Despite being unfairly criticised, we will keep our word and display trustworthiness as a basis towards forging a strong coalition in Pakatan. Unlike BN who are kleptocrats, DAP leaders are democrats who seek to build and reinforce mutual trust.
Penang As An Entrepreneurial And Welfare State
Penang Pakatan leaders shall now be focused on making Penang a model of good governance and clean leadership to develop Penang into an entrepreneurial and welfare state. This constrasts with BN’s crony capitalism and corruption.
Despite lacking natural resources and bereft of federal government funding, Penang has managed to prosper by relying on good and clean governance, building our human talent and relying on the private sector and civil society in a framework of Public Private Partnership(PPP). With the state government provide either the seed money or funding the entire project/initiative, we invite the private sector to invest either in funds or expertise on sustainable development.
Despite being publicly funded, many of these projects/initiatives are run by the private sector or civil society, with minimal or no interference from the state government. The RM20 million Penang Science Café project to give free classes to kids in applied science and robotics, the RM28 million Tech Dome of Penang to rekindle interest in science and technology, the RM 6 million German Dual Vocational Training scheme offering free 42-month advanced diploma courses where students learn on the job and work at factories that is recognised even in Germany, the new RM3 million Penang Digital library, the building of a RM1 billion fish farming on the sea industry out of nothing in 2008, and even the annual George Town Festival showcases the successes of Penang’s entrepreneurial state model.
Penang is also a welfare state in not forgetting about the poor and disadvantaged. Since 2008, more than RM400 million has been paid out to schools, senior citizens, new born babies, single mothers, the disabled, housewives, taxi drivers, fishermen, trishaw riders, primary, secondary and university students. We devote 12% of our budget annually in cash aid and even guarantee a minimum monthly household income of RM790 by topping up the income of those who earn less than RM790. In other words, if your monthly household income is RM600 per month, the state will pay RM190 every month. Perhaps this is why Penang’s Gini coefficient of income inequality has been reduced from 0.42 in 2009 to 0.364 in 2014, an improvement of 13% over 5 years, as compared to the national average of 0.401.
Our RM500 million public and affordable housing programme of 22,512 units, has attracted widespread interest as shown by the huge crowd response to our affordable housing expo in Prangin Mall over the last two days.
The entrepreneurial and welfare state is only possible because we record annual budget surpluses through clean administration. Penang’s CAT administration of Competency, Accountability and Transparency has allowed our reserves to increase from RM850 million to nearly RM1.6 billion in 8 years. Penang’s government debt has been reduced by 90% to only RM69 million – the lowest in Malaysia. Further Penang’s unemployment rate of 1.5% offers many job opportunities.
More efforts on the ground must be made to publicise and make known to the public of the good policies of the Penang state government that works for the benefit of the people and not cronies. Only then are we confident to face the next elections and not fear losing seats. We must win not by default from the failures, abuse of power and corruption by BN, but by the strength of our own hard work of establishing an entrepreneurial and welfare state.