Interestingly, Wong Sai Wan in his Why Not column in The Star suggested a few sets of resolutions for the New Year; among those resolutions are a set of resolutions for all the 14 state governments and our Federal government.
The resolutions for all 15 governments in the country are:-
- We will not victimise anyone who did not vote for us;
- We will not carry out witch-hunts against previous administrations;
- We shall administer fairly, and bring prosperity to all;
- We will rectify all laws that are unfair, destructive, divisive, and discriminatory;
- We will ensure that ALL poor people receive assistance;
- We will fulfill the promises we make;
- We will only come up with policies that are good for all, not only for a few;
- We will protect the minority from the majority;
- We will accept criticisms and act on them positively;
- We will allow all media to operate freely everywhere; and,
- We will cooperate with all governments in the Federation regardless of which party is in power.
Another set of resolutions for all politicians are as followed:
- We will be good losers;
- We will be magnanimous winners;
- We will not destroy the country in our bid to grab power;
- We will discuss important matters in Parliament and State Assemblies, and not try to score political points;
- We will resign all our posts the moment we fail the people;
- We will act with integrity and behave like human beings, not animals;
- We will not incite the people to hate others; and,
- We will support whatever policies that are good for the people.
For both the Pakatan Rakyat and the Barisan Nasional politicians and governments the above resolutions are at the very least "food for thought".
7 comments:
good one ha ha ha
Friday January 2, 2009
Tense dialogue with Guan Eng
By CHRISTINA CHIN
GEORGE TOWN: Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s dialogue session with residents in Bayan Baru here became tensed when a few vocally hit out at the state government for constantly criticising the previous administration. Among them was Bayan Baru Rukun Tetangga chairman Chai Tsing Boo, who said Pakatan leaders were elected to help improve the community’s living conditions.
“If it wasn’t for Barisan Nasional, we would not even have these low and medium cost homes today.
“You should focus on solving the housing woes like non-functioning lifts and lack of proper lighting instead of harping on the past,” he said yesterday.
Another resident said if the current government did not perform within two terms, they would be voted out.
In his reply, Lim said many Barisan members turned to support Pakatan Rakyat to continue with their public service, including former Gerakan deputy secretary-general Datuk Lee Kah Choon.
“More than 90% of Penang’s hardcore poor are Malays. Barisan with its racial politics have failed to do anything.
“To the members, I urge you to come back and serve the rakyat with Pakatan,” he said.
Earlier, Lim announced that the state government would conduct a survey to gauge the people’s response to its proposal to exempt owners of leasehold low-and-medium-cost flats (on state land) from paying a premium to convert the title to freehold.
Pantai Jerejak assemblyman Sim Tze Tzin would prepare a memorandum containing the signatures of those who agree (to the policy) to be presented to the Federal Government.
“We want to give the poor home ownership, but there is a slight problem because Article 91 of the Federal Constitution says states must consult the National Land Council when formulating land policies.
“In the end, Penang will listen to the people – not the Federal Government nor the council,” he said.
GUAN ENG USED FIGURES TO DISCREDIT AND CLAIM CREDIT
Press Release by Mr Mark Ooi, the former Political Secretary to the
Former Chief Minister of Penang, Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon
(Saturday, 13 December 2008)
(1) In his recent speech in the 4th Asia Economic Summit in Hong Kong on 11 December 2008, the Chief Minister of Penang, Lim Guan Eng, misled potential investors by discrediting the previous state government and claiming credit not due to him.
(2) He alleged that "… mismanagement and abuse of powers caused Penang to stagnate since the final years of the 20th century. This economic lethargy and indecisive leadership resulted in an alarming drop in its position as a leading investment location of choice."
(3) He was obviously referring to the period after 1990 when Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon was the Chief Minister. He also hit out at the previous economic strategy of "relying on low-cost labour, easy availability of skilled labour, cheap land and efficient logistics."
(4) He then claimed that the "8 new measures" introduced by him after he took over as Chief Minister in March 2008 "have shown some success with the declining investments flow reversing to rise to RM8.0 billion for the first nine (9) months of this year as compared to RM4.77 billion for the whole of 2007."
(5) I would like to refute his unfair allegation and unfounded claims. First, contrary to his accusation, the 90s actually saw the most rapid and robust growth of Penang's economy. The overall economic growth rates averaged more than ten (10) percent per annum, despite the downturn during the 1997 to 1998 Asian Financial Crisis. This was higher than the 70s and 80s.
(6) Investments into Penang's manufacturing sector showed a robust upward trend in the 90s, despite the emergence of competitors such as China and other developing countries, such as Thailand and Vietnam. In fact, the total cumulative manufacturing investment for the ten-year period between 1990 to 1999 was RM20.0 billion, which was five (5) times the total of RM4.0 billion for 1980 to 1989. The total investment for 2000 to 2007 was RM30.0 billion, higher than the 90s.
(7) Because of the dotcom burst of year 2001 resulting in a severe drop in the electronics industry investments worldwide, there was a decline of investment into Penang from RM3.8 billion in 2001 to under RM2.0 billion in 2004. Nonetheless, this RM2.0 billion was at par with the average of the 90s.
(8) The previous state government was well aware of the highly competitive global environment. Many measures were implemented, not only to reverse the downward trend, but to identify and drive new sources of growth, especially in the high-tech and high value-add areas. It was definitely not a strategy based on low-cost labour and cheap land, as alleged.
(9) The strategy also leveraged on the existing strong supply base and logistics, as well as the enterprising and hardworking spirit of the Penang workforce with high skills. New initiatives introduced included the establishment of investPenang and the successful launch of the Multi-media Super Corridor (MSC) Cyber City, both in January 2005.
(10) As a result of such initiatives by the previous government and efforts by the Penang people with support from the federal government, total manufacturing investments more than doubled to RM4.6 billion by 2005. In fact, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) quadrupled from RM1.0 billion in 2004 to RM4.0 billion in 2005. This was further sustained in 2006 and 2007 with RM5.3 billion and RM4.7 billion respectively.
(11) The momentum generated by the efforts of the previous government in 2005 to 2007 resulted in an approved investment of RM4.7 billion in the first quarter (January to March) of 2008 alone, which exceeded the total investment of 2007.
(12) Clearly, Lim Guan Eng could not claim credit for the investments approved in the first quarter of this year as he was sworn in only in the middle of March. In fact, he could not claim credit even for all the investments approved in the next two (2) quarters (April to September) because many were already committed earlier, only waiting for formal approval for licences and incentives from the federal authorities. These include investments from Ibiden, Honeywell, National Instruments, etc, which amounted to not less than RM2.0 billion.
(13) In other words, close to RM7.0 billion of investments approved before September this year was the result of efforts by the previous state government, the federal government and most importantly, local Malaysian management of MNCs and SMIs. At most, he could claim direct credit to RM1.0 billion or not more than 15 percent of the RM8.0 billion of investment for January to September 2008.
(14) Therefore, it is unethical of him, firstly, to mislead investors and the Penang people in his attempt to discredit the previous government, and secondly, to claim credit where it was not due at all.
(15) What he did clearly contradicted his own slogan of C.A.T. where the A (Accountable) and T (Transparent) should add up to mean "truthful and trustworthy."
Mark Ooi should think of it this way which in reality it is.
The people of Penang is the Boss and KTK is his senior salesman for 18 years. The Boss is not happy with KTK's performance and thinks the company, although making some profits, should be performing even better. So he sacks KTK and hires LGE to take over all KTK's accounts. LGE, being the new employee, could have screwed everything up but he didn't, and LGE closes the deals that KTK left behind. So to the Boss, who gets the commission for the deals that LGE closed? LGE of course! There's nothing unethical if LGE doesn't want to share the commission with KTK. KTK just has to deal with it and stop griping!
It seems like Mark is only focused only wanting to get more credit for the good things KTK has done. After all KTK already received his Tan Sri as recognition. Then what about the shit that KTK left behind despite being in power for 18 years.. unknown amounts of wasted public money due to unfair and irresponsible negotiations, traffic congestion, lack of good public transport, uncleanliness, etc. KTK should take responsibility and apologise for his failures first before even thinking of wanting more praise.
Hey HKL,
If I had not read The Star article "Tense dialogue with Guan Eng" more closely, I would have thought the one who said “If it wasn’t for Barisan Nasional, we would not even have these low and medium cost homes today" was you. No points for guessing who he voted for last election.
And this Chai Tsing Boo wants the CM of Penang to focus on non-functioning lifts and lighting problems??!!! Haven't he heard of maintenance fees and just getting a contractor to fix it? I think he should blame the BN for pampering him too much or not providing him with adequate education.
Some comments about your post.
Wong's ideas are good, ideally and logically speaking.
Do you think No.8 of the first set of resolutions is constitutionally doable in Malaysia? I'm hoping he doesn't find 4000 members of Muslim NGOs in front of his house in protest over it.
Fishhook:
I don't know that Mr Chai. Whether he is a BN or PR supporter is irrelevant.
Yes, lifts are not strictly speaking under the state nor Federal government care. However, there are issues that made it into a "vicious circle".
But, what he said regarding the lifts are true. For GE12, I insisted that one of our local manifesto for Tanjong parlimentary seat is to solve the lifts issue in the MaCallum Ghaut Flats and Noordin Street Ghaut Flats. It is an extremely huge task.
This is a nation-wide problem, a problem both the state and Federal must solve in the near future.
FYI, the lift in my 20 yrs old flat was replaced thru part contributions from YBs in 2007 - using the existing collected maint fee was not enough.
On the resolutions, I think all are doable. I like to add that The Star (which call itself the People's paper) should do some soul searching.
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