Gerakan Secretary General Liang Teck Meng obviously did not learn from his defeat in the last general election. To this day, he continues to steadfastly defend the indefensible, making excuses for former Prime Minister Najib Razak. (Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2018/05/28/gerakan-sec-gen-questions-finance-minister-over-national-debt/)
Liang attempted a cheap shot at Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng for the revelation of the RM1 trillion debt incurred under Najib’s administration. He accused Lim of inconsistency in regard to Penang’s successful 95% debt reduction.
As the Chairman of the National Water Service Commission (SPAN), Liang time and again misled the public on the Penang debt reduction success.
The so-called annual lease of RM14.56 million was due to the transfer of state water assets to the federal government under the National Water Services Restructuring Initiative (NWSRI).
This smart move of the Penang state government to enter into the water debt restructuring exercise despite being at odd with the federal ruling party at that time, gained for Penang a 45-year interest-free payment period for RM655.2 million with an annual lease of RM14.56 million, an additional RM1.2 billion grant for the expansion of Mengkuang Dam, and federal funding for all future raw water resource projects for Penang, among others.
It must be noted that the RM655.2 million debt was incurred by the Gerakan-led Barisan Nasional government.
More importantly, the annual lease is borne by PBAPP Sdn. Bhd., a profitable, revenue-generating company, unlike 1MDB Berhad an insolvent company unable to repay its own debts.
It has been explained numerous times that Penang’s debt reduction was not due to the NWSRI exercise alone.
Seven state governments entered into the NWSRI agreement but not all of them successfully reduced their state debt. For example, while Johor, Liang’s home state, transferred its water assets valued about three times more than its state debt, the state still has a debt of RM413 million. Kelantan which took part in the NWSRI five years after Penang on the other hand increased its state debt by 3% to RM1.4 billion.
Clearly, Penang’s successful debt reduction was due to competent and good governance and this was acknowledged by the Auditor General among others.
Najib is now being investigated by various authorities in Malaysia including the police, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) as well as a high level 1MDB investigation committee. I urge Liang Teck Meng and Gerakan to stop trying to find excuses to protect the corrupt kleptocrat and further incur the wrath of Malaysians.