Jimmy Leow

The Penang state government has established a new State Executive Council portfolio for non-Islamic Affairs to handle religious matters relating to Buddhists, Christians, Sikhism, Taoism & Hinduism. This is the first time that a state executive council portfolio has been formed in Penang and the EXCO member in charge will be the Chief Minister.

The State EXCO for Non-Islamic Religious Affairs was presented by Deputy Chief Minister II Professor Dr P. Ramasamy to the weekly state EXCO meeting and approved last week. Professor Dr P. Ramasamy will be the deputy in this non-Islamic Affairs EXCO portfolio.

The establishment of the non-Islamic Religious Affairs portfolio marks the celebration of the WorldInterfaithHarmony Week by the United Nations this week. Unlike the Federal Government’s Committee for the Promotion of Inter-religious Understanding and Harmony, this is not a committee but a full EXCO portfolio and reflects the state government’s genuine concerns on  all religious matters.

Further as a George Town is a UNESCO World Heritage city, the formation of this EXCO portfolio is timely as it promotes diversity and positive human interaction on cultural, religious and social spheres. Despite our differences, we are united by our common aspirations for good practices and universal moral values of peace, justice, moderation and harmony. Co-operation not confrontation, mutual respect not tolerance, and understanding not ignorance will be the governing creed of this new Penang EXCO portfolio.

Penang is willing to work with the Prime Minister Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak’s  who had expressed hopes at the United Nations’ 65th general assembly last year, during which he said he did not want any extremist or militant groups to threaten unity and security in Malaysia. The Penang state government is concerned at the existence of extremist groups who seeks to racialise every event for their own selfish interests. Penang has been under siege with attacks of being anti-Malay even if it only involves only 10% Malays or one Malay out of 10 affected parties.

The Penang state government calls on the people to embrace the future by embracing every Malay, Indian, Chinese, Kadazan and Iban, as Malaysian brothers and sisters, Malaysian sons and daughters.

Then only can we grow together, learn together and enjoy the success together.

LIM GUAN ENG

Penang hopes that Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop can urge the Federal government to reveal how much has been allocated for Penang under the 10^th Malaysian Plan. So far no information has been forthcoming about the projects and funding for Penang even though the 10^th Malaysian Plan was unveiled on 10 June 2011 in Parliament by the Prime Minister.

RM230 billion was set out for the 10MP with 60 % physical development and 40 % non-physical development based on 7 key thrusts identified namely

• Charting development for a high income nation
• 6 pct growth target
• Per capita income to increase to RM38,845 (US$12,139) by 2015
• Creating private sector-led economy
• Supporting innovation-led growth
• Full employment
• Restructuring of subsidies

However 9 months after the 10MP was launched, the Penang state government still does not know how much was Penang allocated and what projects would be identified. To-date, we are uncertain whether the Federal government has decided on the allocation for the respective states under the 10MP. It is only fair for Penang to receive its fair share in view of the annual sum of nearly RM4 billion in contributions to the Federal government.

Penang No. 1 In Implementing 9MP Projects But What Are They?

The only information available is the statement by Tan Sri Nor that Penang recorded the highest percentage in utilisation of funds, compared with other states, in expenditures on development projects implemented by the federal government. Tan Sri Nor said that 91.84 per cent of the RM7.176 billion allocated for development projects in Penang under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) had been utilised.

Again the Penang state government hopes that Tan Sri Nor can reveal the details of the projects under the 9MP, which shows the progress and effective implementation by the federal government in Penang.  This will also assist in determining the reasons for the delay so that such weaknesses will not be repeated again. There is no doubt that delayed completion of projects causes losses detrimental to public interest. Such delays can be avoided with proper planning and supervision.

LIM GUAN ENG

Rakyat mesti menolak hasutan ekstremis dan berbau perkauman yang melabelkan orang bukan Islam sebagai berdosa, khususnya dalam media yang dikuasai BN, kerana menyebarkan maklumat palsu bahawa amalan tradisi Kristian dan Hari Kekasih Valentine Day adalah berdosa. Pada masa yang sama ada pemimpin BN yang melabelkan negara-negara Islam sebagai mundur, miskin, korup dan tidak demokratik.

Jelas sekali permainan perkauman dan ekstremis ini bertujuan untuk pecah-belahkan rakyat dengan melaga-lagakan antara agama agar pemimpin BN boleh terus memerintah dan skandal rasuah yang kian berleluasa. Keengganan BN menjawab skandal tentang RM888 bilion wang yang dibawa curi-curi keluar secara haram dalam 9 tahun di antara 2000-2008, amat tidak bertanggungjawab kerana ia melibatkan jumlah wang besar. Betapa besarnya boleh dilihat sekiranya RM888 bilion diagihkan kepada 27 juta rakyat Malaysia, maka setiap orang akan menerima RM 33,000/-! Atau kini setiap orang dewasa, kanak-kanak dan bayi telah kehilangan RM33,000/-.

Hari Kekasih atau Valentine’s Day bukanlah sebahagian daripada fahaman, ajaran atau nilai Kristian. Tidak ada sebarang upacara sembahyang dijalankan dalam gereja untuk menandakan Hari Kekasih ini. Sebaliknya ia adalah hanya suatu amalan popular yang tidak menggalakkan amalan jahat berzina atau berdosa. Sekiranya ada pihak jahat yang cuba menyalahgunakan Valentine’s Day untuk kegiatan maksiat atau berzina, ia dikecam dan dilarang oleh semua pihak baik bukan Islam ataupun Islam.

Untuk melabelkan ajaran Kristian sebagai tradisi berdosa dalam TV adalah sungguh tidak bertanggungjawab dan biadab. Jelas sekali ada pihak tertentu yang cuba mencari populariti di kalangan umat Islam dengan menjalankan kempen anti-Hari Kekasih seakan-akan suatu kempen menyelamatkan Islam daripada dosa-dosa yang diamalkan di kalangan bukan Islam.

Sekiranya mereka ingin mempertahankan Islam, mengapa mereka tidak menjalankan kempen ke atas pemimpin BN yang menyerang calon wanita PAS sebagai ekstremis kerana calon wanita itu memilih untuk tidak salam dengan kaum lelaki? Mengapa mereka tidak menjalankan kempen ke atas pemimpin BN sama yang melabelkan negara-negara Islam sebagai mundur, miskin, korup dan tidak demokratik?

Jelas sekali, ini adalah suatu permainan politik BN dengan taktik talam dua muka untuk menimbulkan kebencian di kalangan kaum dan agama masing-masing. Sandiwara talam dua muka BN ini berlainan dengan PR yang bertindak adil kepada semua kaum dan agama dengan mempromosikan kesederhanaan, kesefahaman, dan saling hormat-menghormati serta bantu-membantu di antara satu sama lain.

PR berpegang kuat dengan kepercayaan bahawa kesederhanaan adalah keadilan.

LIM GUAN ENG

The Penang state government welcomes the announcement by Minister in the Prime Minister Department Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon that Penangites stand to benefit greatly as 10 out of the 12 NKEAs focus on the development of Penang. Koh had stressed at the Penang Chinese Town Hall two days ago that the Federal government had not ignored Penang and would place greater emphasis on the state so it would not be left out of the nation’s mainstream development.

Since Koh said that amongst the 10 out of 12 NKEAs that Penang would benefit are the electronics industry, communications, tourism and health care, Penang hopes that he would provide details. When 19 Entry Points Projects(EPP) involving RM67 billion in investments, creating 35,000 jobs and increasing Gross National Income(GNI) by RM35 billion were unveiled last month, not one of the EPPs was located in Penang.

Penang’s failure to snare even one out of the 19 EPPs is unfair, discriminatory and unacceptable when there are only 13 states in Malaysia excluding the Federal Territory.  However the Penang state government is willing to trust Tan Sri Dr Koh one more time that Penang will benefit from the 19 EPPs.

Based on the RM67 billion in investments, Penang should benefit at least RM 5 billion on a proportional basis as one of the 13 beneficiary states. Tan Sri Dr Koh should quickly provide details of when and where the RM5 billion in investments will be distributed as soon as possible.

At the same time, the Federal government should also explain why RM67 billion in investments under the 19 EPPs can generate only 35,000 jobs or RM2 million per job. As compared to the 2010 total private domestic and foreign investments of RM 47,177 million will help create 97,319 jobs or less than RM500,000 per job. Such great disparity requires explanations as to what type of jobs are created under the 19 EPPs that needs RM 2million to generate one job.

LIM GUAN ENG

Ketua Menteri(KM) Pulau Pinang YAB Lim Guan Eng tidak pernah mempersoalkan dan mempertikaikan kerakyatan mana-mana warga Malaysia dalam ucaptama beliau dalam Konvensyen Kebangsaan Kedua PR di Kepala Batas, Pulau Pinang pada 19.12.2010. Sila baca teks ucapan penuh beliau di bawah tajuk “Kerajaan Berjiwa Rakyat Untuk Rakyat Malaysia Sebenar”.

Jelas, Utusan Malaysia dan pemimpin UMNO Pulau Pinang seperti Dr Novandri Hasan Bari sekali lagi bertindak jahat menabur fitnah dengan menggembar-gemburkan kononnya KM mahu kerakyatan warga Malaysia dipersoalkan. Seperti yang dinyatakan oleh KM,

“Rakyat Malaysia (the real Malaysians) yang sebenarnya adalah rakyat biasa yang pentingkan hak ekonomi dan masa depan agar kehidupan mereka bukan sahaja lebih senang tetapi masa depan untuk anak-anak adalah lebih cerah dan baik. Rakyat Malaysia sebenar mahukan sebuah masayarkat aman, tenteram dan penyayang serta menyokong prinsip keadilan, kebenaran, kebebasan, kebajikan dan ketakwaan kepada Tuhan.

Yang bukan rakyat Malaysia sebenar adalah yang  hanya tahu benci-membenci dengan menggunakan fahaman eskstrimis baik aspek kaum, jantina mahupun agama, yang tamak haloba di mana demi godaan wang rasuah atau yang lain rela menjualkan segala-galanya serta kaki fitnah dan tohmah. Yang kesemua ini bukan rakyat Malaysia sebenar, mereka ini Malaysia Celup or pseudo-Malaysians.”

The Penang state government is willing to meet with the Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha to discuss the stop work issued by the Penang State EXCO on 12 November 2010 on the Ipoh-Padang Besar Electrified Double Track Project (EDTP). I am willing to listen to Datuk Seri Kong’s explanation that this RM 15 billion project did not cause or worsen the worst floods ever in Kedah. If convinced by Datuk Seri Kong, I am willing to recommend an immediate lifting of the stop-work order on the contractor, MMC-Gamuda JV Sdn Bhd.

On 12 November 2010, the Penang Government had directed Majlis Perbandaran Seberang Perai(MPSP) to issued a stop-work order as a pre-emptive move necessary to prevent major floods in the Penang on the same scale as in Kedah. This follows the statements by both the Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung and Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak that the recent major floods in Kedah were possibly due to the project.

The state government wanted the contractor, MCC-Gamuda Joint Venture Sdn Bhd, to provide a written guarantee that it will bear all losses should a similar flood problem arise on the mainland as a result of the project. Further MMC-Gamuda must also remove and tear down any structure built by them that causes water retention or water to overflow if flooding occurs. The contractor would also be required to conduct inspection on flood-prone areas in the project construction zone with Penang state EXCO members Lim Hock Seng and Law Choo Kiang. I will be awaiting their reports before deciding whether and when to lift the stop-work order.

I regret that Datuk Chor Chee Heung now denies saying that the project caused the flood problems. On 5 November 2010, the Star quoted him in a report, ‘Double-tracking project worsened flood situation in Kedah – Chor’ and again on 6 November, ‘Chor: Railway project contributed to the problem’.

Chor was quoted in both reports as saying that he had informed Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha on the matter. Chor even said that his house Taman Lumba Kuda was flooded for the first time ever under four feet of water. Since Star is a MCA paper, it is unlikely that Chor is misquoted as there were no corrections in The Star after these two reports were published on 5 and 6 November 2010.

The Penang state government is only carrying out our public duty to safeguard the people’s interests because we do not want the major floods in Kedah to recur in Penang. I take note the warning issued byKTM Bhd that halting the project would result in costly time delays, as well as affect the tourism industry.

However the state government would not budge until we received guarantees that can assure the people that all flood-prevention measures have been taken by the company. We should put the people’s welfare and public interests above profit considerations of one or two companies.

Finance Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak and the Treasury should be censured for misleading the Parliament with its shoddy preparation of a budget document that shows a RM 30 billion hole that wasn’t, as well as an attempt to hide a RM 2 billion figure from the public.

On page 41 of Anggaran Perbelanjaan Persekutuan 2011 (http://www.treasury.gov.my/pdf/bajet/maklumat_bajet_kerajaan/2011/anggaran_perbelanjaan2011.pdf) the Peruntukan Asal Tahun 2010 (original allocation) column shows that the total budget allocated for 2010 was RM 221 billion (RM221, 585, 772,800) which includes an operating budget of RM 168 billion (RM168, 366, 115, 800).

The Anggaran Perbelanjaan Persekutuan 2010 (http://www.treasury.gov.my/pdf/bajet/maklumat_bajet_kerajaan/2010/cadangan_anggaran.pdf) allocated a total of RM 191 billion (RM 191, 498, 805, 000) which includes an operating budget of RM 138 billion (RM 138, 279, 148, 000).

If these figures are correct, this would mean there exists a RM 30 billion hole and a 16 percent overspend.

Scrutinising each line I have found that the figures in the 2011 document are not accurate. There was no change in the original allocation amount, although according to the Economic Report 2010/2011, the 2010 budget was 7 percent overspent and now stands at RM 205 billion, as opposed to the original RM 191 billion.

Anggaran Perbelanjaan Persekutuan is the actual budget document to be approved by the Parliament, legally binding, as opposed to the Finance Minister’s budget speech in Parliament, which is essentially an exercise in public relations.

The Treasury must own up to the unacceptable, albeit technical, mistake, failing which the entire budgetary process in Parliament is rendered meaningless. The Finance Minister must apologise to the Parliament and request an amendment to the document.
The Finance Minister should also apologise to the Parliament for his ostrich-like act to hide a RM 2 billion figure from the public in his budget speech to the Parliament on Friday 15th October 2010.

The Finance Minister announced in the Parliament (paragraph 113) that the total allocation for Budget 2011 is RM212 billion, which, according to him, is 2.8% higher than the allocation for 2010.

Both figures are wrong!

First, for all preceding years before this budget, the allocation for “simpanan luar jangka” (emergency reserve) is considered part of the global figure. For 2011, RM 2 billion is allocated for that purpose which the Finance Minister is attempting to hide from the public. The actual total is RM 213,987,217, 000 or RM 214 billion.

Second, RM 214 billion is a huge increase from the RM 191 billion originally allocated for 2010. It is a 12 percent increase.
For the sake of preserving the integrity of the budget processes and the sanctity of the Parliament, I call on the Finance Minister and the Treasury to correct their mistakes.

Liew Chin Tong

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s assurances of support for press freedom as crucial to national development sound hollow with the latest release of 2010 World Press Freedom Index where Malaysia has plunged 10 notches to 141 out of 178 countries. Najib had said at a forum yesterday that banning newspapers would be counter-productive and a futile exercise as without free media, the world cannot be as integrated as it is today.

How can there be public confidence of the Malaysian government’s to free media when even cartoons are banned with the recent detention and banning of cartoonist Zunar and his book? What is unusual about this year’s World Press Freedom Index is that Singapore (136) performed better than  Malaysia for the first time since Paris-based press watchdog group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) began releasing its ranking in 2002.

The Prime Minister’s assurances of respecting press freedom remains futile unless backed by action with the enactment of a FOI and abolition of repressive laws like the Sedition Act, PPPA and ISA. The BN’s government refusal to fulfill its previous promises to even review these repressive laws coupled with its ownership and control over the country’s print and broadcasting media has made the goal of an informed public a distant dream.

After 53 years of independence, the time has come for Malaysia to join the global citizenry of civil society by adopting and implementing fully human rights as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. There should be no concerns that Malaysians are unable to handle press freedom.

A very good example of the maturity of Malaysians is the establishment of the Speakers’ Square in Penang 6 months ago permitting full freedom of expression. Despite earlier concerns that sensitive issues of race and religion would create public discord, the public had exercised this freedom of expression responsibly by ignoring those with extremist views and supporting those who use logic over emotion.

Lim Guan Eng

Lim Guan Eng’s take on 2011 Budget.

Video by Jimmy Leow, Citizen Journalist

On the 15th July 2010, a group of residents from Taman Kota Permai, Penang, who have been suffering flash floods and structural damages for the past three years, made their long trek to Putrajaya to submit a memorandum to minister Peter Chin Fah Kui was met with a rebuff from the Green Technology, Energy and Water Ministry.

The problems are caused by the Sewerage Services Department’s RM73 million sewerage development project under the ministry in their locality.

After much pressure from the residents, the ministry agrees to send a team geo-technical investigators to re-access the current situation. IKRAM has started their investigation early last week.

Video by Jimmy Leow, Citizen Journalist