Come clean on local council corruption charges, Guan Eng told

Below is a well written report by Audrey Dermawan.

Come clean on local council corruption charges, Guan Eng told
By Audrey Dermawan

GEORGE TOWN, Tues:
The Penang Government has been urged to come clean and explain an allegation made by the chief minister's aide that high ranking officials in local councils here were involved in graft.

Penang Gerakan vice youth chief H'ng Khoon Leng said the state government could not continue keeping mum over the issue as it involved the good name of the councils.

He said the allegation made by Lim Guan Eng's chief of staff, Ooi Chuan Aun, was serious and warranted an immediate follow-up." Ooi has been reported to have said that he has information of several high-ranking officers in the local councils being involved in corrupt practices." It is only right for the state government to follow-up on the allegation in a transparent manner to get to the bottom of the issue," he said.

H'ng added that the state government must also ensure those involved in corrupt practices are dealt with accordingly.Ooi was quoted in a Chinese daily on Mar 29 claiming several high-ranking officers in the local councils had allegedly resorted to corrupt practices.

H'ng said if the issue was not cleared up, people would have a negative perception of the local councils." It has been nearly a month since the report came out. When is the state government going to lodge a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission? More importantly, why is the state government not being accountable on this matter? he asked.

H'ng said if Ooi failed to prove his allegation, then Lim should apologise to all high-ranking officers in the local councils for allowing his chief of staff to make such a slanderous allegation.

Where the "BOLA"?

The below sms is what I think of Lim Guan Eng administration of Penang.

Guan Eng tiada “BOLA”. Gagal tangani pelbagai masalah Fairus bawah tadbirannya.Kini tolak semua kpd PKR. Hampir semua Exco tidur. Guan Eng tak tau malu.

Many Penangites think that Gerakan have no “BOLA” when dealing with UMNO. But is DAP under Lim Guan Eng any different with PKR and PAS? Signs are showing that eventually it will be more worst.

Guan Eng pushed the explanation for Fairus resignation to PKR. Fairus as Deputy Chief Minister I reports to Guan Eng not PKR or Anwar.

Guan Eng must explained to Penangites why Fairus is resigning not PKR? Is he resigning because of poor performance, alleged graft, further studies, political conflicts, ....?

How can Anwar approved Fairus leave? Is Anwar the Chief Minister?

Fairus had failed miserable as a executive councillor and more importantly as Deputy Chief Minister I – the second man in Penang government. Guan Eng should had asked him to pack his bag months ago instead Guan Eng do not know Fairus was resigning until Fairus faxed him the resignation letter!

On another matter, Lim Guan Eng must be accountable for Fairus incompetancy.

All the executive councillors are half asleep except for Phee Boon Poh. Without Phee holding the fort, there are nothing to shout about for Lim Guan Eng.

As the CEO of Penang he had been wasting time on cheap publicities and not managing his team of excos. Fairus, Ramasamy, Kon Yeow, Danny Law and most of the others are under-performing. Is it the exco team or the team leader that is the problem?

How long a probationary period does this replacement CEO need 2 years, 3 year or 10 years?

Most get a probationary period of 3 to 6 months. Penangites are doing Guan Eng a disfavour by allowing a longer probationary period. Many are still saying that this is a new government. If Guan Eng is not capable to lead a government, he should reliquished his position and let another capable PR leader to take over!

DCM I Fairus sms to reporters:

"Saya memang tidak melakukan apa-apa kesalahan. Dalam sikit masa akan saya maklumkan. Cuma yang penting yakinlah bahawa saya sama sekali tidak bersalah."

Penang Deputy Chief Minister I, Fairus to go abroad

When there are controversies, going abroad seem to be the in-things nowadays.

It was reported that Penang Deputy Chief Minister I, Mohamad Fairus is planning to go abroad for further studies. He had submitted his resignation as DCM I and EXCO today.

Mohamad Fairus will soon join the other celebrities such as Balasubramaniam, V. Arumugum, Elizabeth Wong, and Helmi Malek.

Incommunicado is the keyword for the Supreme Leader.

I wonder who is paying for his further studies!

Fairus should also resign as the state assemblyman for Penanti.

The sms on 19 Mac 2009 that started the media frenzy on Fairus resignation:

"YB Fairus TKM1 Pulau Pinang akan meninggalkan pejabatnya pada hari esok atas arahan DSAI (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim). Pegawai-pegawai beliau sedang sibuk mengemas dokumen di pejabat. Kemungkinan besar beliau akan mengosongkan kerusi DUN Penanti kerana salah guna kuasa dan rasuah. Dr Mansor difahamkan akan menggantikan tempat beliau sebagai ADUN Penanti dan TKM. Fairus mempunyai BMW 5 series dan Mercedes yang dibeli cash atas namanya. Pegawai SPRM baru sahaja datang pejabat beliau kelmarin."

YBs scorecard: 54.35%, 57.10%, 64.73%

Tanjong DAP elected representatives received poor marks from voters in their constituencies.

Voters rated the assemblymen on various criteria such as problems solving ability, state assembly performance, people interaction, sensitivity towards problems, etc.

Komtar assemblyman and Political Secretary to the Chief Minister, YB Ng Wei Aik obtained 54.35%.

Pengkalan Kota assemblyman, YB Lau Keng Ee obtained 57.10%.

Padang Kota assemblyman, senior EXCO and also Tanjong member of parliament, YB Tuan Chow Kon Yeow obtained 64.73%. YB Tuan Chow is also Penang DAP chairman.

These low scores at the height of the current DAP popularity reflects the poor performance of nearly all Pakatan Rakyat YBs in Penang except a handful.

The 57.10% obtained by YB Lau is actually flattering. Tanjong Gerakan Youth received frequent complaints about his unavailability and unability to solve problems.

YB Ng Wei Aik score of 54.35% is not a surprise - from day 1 as a political secretary he had been stepping on a lot of toes.

YB Tuan Chow is a three terms parlimentarian (Tanjong is DAP stronghold) with an undistinguished performance in Parliment. This imported protege of Lim Kit Siang was given a senior executive councillor seat that probably gave him the additional 10 percentage points. It could also be because his poor performance is camouflaged by his nice personality.

P.S. It is an excellent idea of the 3 YBs to do their own job appraisals - they really need it!!!

Procrastination or threat?

Rapid Penang intention to bring in 200 buses in batches from May 2009 was a well known plan since mid 2008.

Seven letters had been sent to the state government since July 2008 without any response.

In desperation, Rapid Penang brought out this issue to the media last month. It was only after this that the publicity craze Penang government started to react.

Rapid Penang chief advised that if no new sites to house the additional buses are approved, Rapid Penang is forced to divert these buses to RapidKL. This is not a surprise, as in 2007 before obtaining RapidPenang own buses, the BN Penang government attempted to divert 50 new buses from RapidKL.

DAP Penang government procrastination is the cause of this problem. Now, it is claiming that Rapid Penang is threatening the Penang government when it voiced its concern that the 200 buses may have to be diverted to RapidKL. Penang lost is KL gain.

The exact words of State Local Government & Traffic Management Committee Chairman YB Tuan Chow Kon Yeow was that Rapid Penang was holding the state to ransom when all it does is facilitate the public transport service.

The DAP Penang government had viewed Rapid Penang as BN entity that is against it. The truth is Rapid Penang had been professional managed and involved the DAP penang government in all its public activities and programs.

Surveys on the public transportation in Penang shows that after the introduction of Rapid Penang by the BN government, dissatisfaction on public transportation had reduced drastically.

Yet on 21/7/2008, Penang State Government had announced the operational restoration of Syarikat Bas Pulau Pinang to provide competition to Rapid Penang in order to increase the quality of public transport system. Was it really to improve quality or to have Pakatan Raykat or DAP controlled bus company? As usual, until today it is not yet implemented - talk first, do later when criticize.

Fish rot from the head down

The opinion of Sharanjit Singh from NST titled, "What your beef?" bring out to the open the truth about Lim Guan Eng administration.

Recently, I wrote a post about wifi and his interference with press freedom. Read http://hklpenang.blogspot.com/2009/01/wirelesspenang-lack-of-sincerity.html

The preferential treaments for certain businesses & media and the "victimizations" of certain businesses & media that do not kowtow to him and his political secretary are open secrets.

Divide and rule the media is practised by the Chief Minister office. Press conferences or press releases are given to selected media based of the issues or topics.

Fish rot from the head down. Many idolized Lim Guan Eng like a saint or god, thinking he can do no wrong. While PKR will bring future troubles to the Penang government, in the longer term the nucleus of the cancer cell is actually Lim Guan Eng.

Declaration of Assets

The Selangor government had already published their EXCOs assets declaration on its official website. It was based on a Federal government format (Borang JPA).

Lim Guan Eng said that Penang will follows Selangor example on the assets declaration.

Khalid Ibrahim assets' declaration is meaningless. Asset-wise he is poorer that many people - NO HOUSE, NO PROPERTIES, NO SHARES, NO CASH, NO CARS, NO FIXED DEPOSITS, NOTHING.

If this is the standard of declaration that will be practised, declaring almost nothing except remuneration, it is better not to waste time.

I also can filled the assets declaration for Lim Guan Eng to sign, hah...hah...hah...

P.S. Lim Guan Eng must thanks Khalid Ibrahim for finding this Federal's Civil Service form for him as he had seached high & low thru the year for such a format.

Big CAT park in Relau

Bernama reported that Penang DAP government plans to open a tiger park at Relau Community Park with the aim of attracting more tourists to the state.

Lim Guan Eng said that the lush greenery of the 100-acre Relau Community Park will be a good place for Malaysia's first tiger park.

I would be surprised if environmentalists & the local community will consent to this tiger park. It will also be a threat to the existing durian farms in surrounding areas.

Luckily, he did also said that the ecotourism project would only be implemented after considering views from non-governmental organisations (NGO) and the local community.

He said this was in line with the state government's Competency, Accountability and Transparency (CAT) principle of implementing projects transparently and fairly by listening to views from others.

LGE obsession with "CAT" bordered on some form of mental illness - will it cloud his judgement - I am no psychologist ...

Tiger is one of the biggest CAT mammal. The free inner city transportation is now called CAT (Central Area Transit). Penang's career assistance service is also called CAT (Career Assistance & Training).

I guess there will be many more CATs to come...hah...hah...hah...

P.S: Jangan marah-marah. Accidently, saw the about picture -
posted for all of us to laugh - both sides of the political divides.

Special Benefits For Senior Citizens of Penang

On March 7 2009, during the 1st anniversary celebration of DAP government rule in Penang, Lim Guan Eng promise to provide special benefits to Penang Senior Citizens. The only details provided at that time were the conditions for application.

The initial conditions to apply for these benefit are:-

1. Age 60 & above


2. The senior citizens were born or residents of Penang


3. A valid registered voter of Penang
   

LGE style is talk first, do homework later. He is now figuring what the Penang government want to give.

Condition (3) reflect the inner consciousness of the Penang DAP government especially its leader – Lim Guan Eng. Directly linking votes with welfare benefits???

Does it care about the people or is it just another attempt to “buy future votes” again?

P.S. On 15 March 2009, Penang DAP government briefed reporters that the tentative planned benefits are RM2500 monetary gift/award & RM1000 burial benefit.

The People's Opposition

Whether on blogs or MSM, Penang Gerakan Youth consistent critisms of Penang DAP government are viewed negatively by a segment of its population.

The inability to recognize that in a vibrant democratic state there exist the people's government and the people's opposition.

Without an effective opposition, the people will suffer.

Recently, the Penang DAP government proposed to provide special benefit for senior citizens. Yet, many people do not realize that immediately after GE12, it abolished the issuance of senior citizen identification cards. These cards enable senior citizens to enjoy 50% fee discount on Rapid Penang buses.

Sdra Oh Tong Keong and myself fought against this abolishment and won. Currently, there are about 10,000 senior citizens that enjoyed this benefit.

If we had remained silent and used this as an election “bullet”, we will probably scored positive marks. But, we will actually failed the people especially the senior citizens. There are other similar examples.

DAP Penang as an opposition before GE12 was a near total failure. Yet this failure, had contributed to their success. Without strong checks and balances, the previous BN government was too complacent. Many are still in dreamland.

The irony is that with Penang Gerakan Youth proving to be a strong opposition, the Penang DAP government may eventually finds its bearing and performed to expectation.

From another perspective, the strong Penang Gerakan Youth opposition is a form of government-in-waiting or shadow cabinet. In contrast, DAP Penang when in opposition was weak, therefore, it was a weak government-in-waiting; now after one year in government they are still fumbling. Luckily, they have an imported publicist from Malacca to cover up their weaknesses.

Whatever it is, Penang Gerakan Youth must draw strength fron the satisfaction as an effective opposition as the struggle for the people mandate is a never-ending journey.

Unorthodox Mini Budget

Most economic analysts were surprised by the RM60 billions Mini Budget announced on 10th march 2009.

Rumours before the tabling of the mini budget was that in was about RM10 billions. I was worried that it was true.

Thank god. It was totally incorrect. If it was true, Najib should "balik kampung tanam jagung". At least, there are some hopes in this future PM!

Najid said it was unorthodox. My opinion is it was just slightly unorthodox - it was a "B" rating budget - not outstanding, just sufficient.

An unorthodox effort would be something like this. The RM200 Millions (should be at least RM1 billion) for tourism, should be allocated directly to Malaysians above the age of 21 for local tour packages(with safeguards against abuses). The multiplier effects and stimulus created will be speedy & tremendous!!! This is unorthodox!!!

Now, efficient & effective implementation, monitoring & review of both stimulus budgets are paramount in ensuring success.

The Three Bounced Checks

Penang Gerakan Youth chief, Sdra Oh Tong Keong said that DAP Penang under Lim Guan Eng had written 3 bounced checks.

Bounced Check No 1: Failure to hold local government elections in Penang.

Bounced check No 2: Failure to abolish weekend parking fees.

Bounced Check No 3: Failure to implement declaration of properties & assets of the Chief Minister and Excos (should also include Chief-of-staff and Pol. Sec).

If, Bank Negara is the regulator of Malaysian politicians, Lim Guan Eng would had his account closed.

P.S. LGE & DAP Penang had bounced more that 3 checks.

Guan Eng's vision For Penang ( or is it blurred/AIDS vision)

After one year leading the Penang government, not 100 days; Lim Guan Eng must have GREAT VISION for Penang.

LGE said BN have AIDS (Acquired Intellectual Ideals, Ideas and Imagination Deficit syndrome).

Read Guan Eng's Vision For Penang on his own website to see whether he have AIDS (hah...hah...hah)

I could not believe it - his Q & A with Star newspaper on his 100 days was still his VISION FOR PENANG.

"Reading" is believing. Click here(as at 10th March 2009).

Tree of Democracy For DAP Penang

DAP Penang promised during GE12 that if it formed Penang government, it will plant 1,000,000 trees. Until today, this promise seem to be forgotten.

I have an idea for DAP Penang. DAP Penang can take saplings of the world first TREE OF DEMOCRACY from Ipoh. Using modern technology, new saplings can be churned out to meet the 1,000,000 trees target before GE13.

The first sapling to be planted in Penang should be planted at a strategic location. Then, it can be turned into a tourist attraction or better still if the Supreme Leader decreed it as a place for pilgrimage to Pakatan Rakyat members.

This will help boost tourism to Penang as DAP Penang government is totally without any idea (as at March 2009).

P.S. Also to help Pakatan Rakyat coalition leadership which still seem clueless on the use of a single symbol for election, why not use a "TREE", somewhat like the logo above(by artist Cari Buziak), which is a symbol for tree of life.

Gerakan's CHILL strategy to weather severe economic winter

NST Online, 6 March 2009

Gerakan has come out with an "anecdote" in the form of a memorandum on how the nation can weather the economic downturn using the "CHILL" strategy.

Its president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said the government needs to adopt the strategy encompassing capital, housing, incentives, implementation, labour and land to mitigate the pressures and challenges posed by the worst global economic malaise in decades.

The document has been handed to Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak recently for his perusal, he told a media conference.

"We need to take measures to counter the severe economic winter. If we don't, we will not survive. If we survive this winter, then we can enjoy the spring that will follow any winter," Koh said, describing that the world was entering a severe economic winter.

Koh said the CHILL strategy is to be incorporated into the second stimulus package to be tabled by Najib in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday.

P.S. Chill is also a type of music, listen to the music below to CHILL OUT