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Penang state govt starts off on right footing

Thursday, 13 March 2008 01:32

Aliran congratulates the new Penang State Government for taking off on the right footing.

It speaks for their courage, their integrity, their ethics and their commitment to good governance. They are truly living up to their election promises to inject into politics transparency and accountability.

Aliran welcomes the Chief Minister’s pledge, “We want to run a state administration free from cronyism, corruption and systematic inefficiency.” We are encouraged by these words. We hope that they will go beyond rhetoric and set an example that is worthy of our trust and confidence in the new governance that is promised for Penang.

Aliran is particularly impressed with the announcement that the Chief Minister, “along with all his exco members, state assembly speaker, deputy speaker and the respective heads of the Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) and Seberang Prai Municipal Council (MPSP) would be making a public declaration of their personal assets”.

For the last three decades Aliran had been calling for all elected and appointed officials to declare their assets so that we could watch out for any ill-gotten fortunes. The Barisan Nasional had brushed aside all these demands and went about running the States and the Councils the way they chose to – without being accountable and transparent to the public.

We are heartened that the State Government “would also attempt to restore local government elections before the end of its term”. This is another issue that Aliran and the other NGOs have been advocating for many, many years. Again, the BN ignored the sentiments of the vast majority of Malaysians and refused to restore local government elections.

The appointment of two Deputy Chief Ministers, which is unprecedented in the 50 years of Malaysian history, is another plus for the State Government. Not that Aliran is overtly concerned with ethnic representation but it drives home the fact that no community has been marginalised by this government. The Penang State Government truly represents the multi-faceted character and composition of our nation. This is a remarkable attempt to make everyone feel that he or she is very much part and parcel of this country which we call our dear home.

We hope and pray that these noble endeavours of the newly elected government will not be derailed for whatever reason. We hope and pray that no one from this government will jump party and frustrate the voters of Penang who have so decisively and courageously voted for change.

Aliran wishes the new State Government of Penang all the best.

Aliran pledges to the public that Aliran will be as critical of this government as it has always been of the BN when things are not done right.

Aliran Executive Committee

Comments (7) Add Comment

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written by NSTPravda, March 13, 2008 07:18:21

Right footing is good for the mood
To show that rakyats their needs are understood
Some integrity and honesty can go a long way
To start a long campaign of making it really semua-nua OK!

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written by Kcc, March 13, 2008 07:50:37

Yup right footing for Penang, but read today's The Star online. Is there a crisis in the selection of the new Perak MB as stated? If so, it's a bad reflection of the opposition, and BN will smile and say "I told you so!!"

To Selangor & Penang, pls DON'T mess up. You have our support and our CONCERNS, too. We don't want BN to have a reason to point fingers and look for faults, and then retain power again.

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written by ahmadbadrul40, March 13, 2008 08:20:02

In a fully Democractic country, DAP should have become the MB of Perak. But the Malays are not ready to accept this changes. So Malaysia has long way to go before Malaysia can be call a fully democractic country.

Malays are not a progressive race, because they can't trust that a DAP party can look after the Malays better than UMNO. The problem now is fundamental. The Malays are use to being spoon fed and out of the sudden, they have to learn how to survive on their own. So, how can it be done suddenly. They would have protested and fight to the death. Furthermore, to the Malays, this is Tanah Melayu.

So, I guess the DAP have to tread water carefully in Malaysian politics. It is still very race base.

But, LKS is an idealist and will forever protest in his life until he gets the ideal democratic country.

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written by Jengking, March 13, 2008 08:39:17

Why DAP Penang wanted to abolish the NEP? I think its a good idea to have the NEP, only the implementation needs to be fine tuned to ensure that all ethnics will be looked after. NEP is about helping the poor and the have-not, irrespective of race, only it was abused by the previous administration.

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written by batsman, March 13, 2008 08:56:49

Aliran - Why no mention of waiving of parking fines and hawker fines? Isn't this part of the new start? Is this the standard of transparency that we can expect? LGE is showing dictatorial tendencies already. Like father like son. This does not bode well for Penang. Pls be more critical of the new Penang state govt, if only to push it along the most democratic way.

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written by hiro, March 13, 2008 09:30:07

I think the PKR Deputy Chief Minister (I) should stand up and be the spokesman against UMNO for raising the spectre of Malay anger over NEP. It is obviously chicanery of UMNO to tie in NEP exclusively with the idea of poverty eradication when what CM Lim clearly meant was eradication of direct negotiated contracts that breeds corruption, cronyism and nepotism. The Deputy CM (I) must make it clear to all Malaysians that there will be affirmative action for ALL in need regardless of race - which majority may well be Malays. At the same time, those who already have their education and small businesses should be expected to compete to a large extent on their own. It has to be emphasised that this is the ONLY way to go forward if Malaysia is to compete globally.

It is important for the CM and Deputies to repeat this message as frequent as possible against UMNO propaganda. Once the rakyat understands this for what it is, UMNO's chance of creating instability will naturally die a natural death, and their relevance in national politics will take a further tumble.

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written by humanist, March 13, 2008 14:35:43

I hope Aliran will not become mouthpiece of DAP as like our mainstream Newspaper to BN government.

Make no mistake, DAP is run by "human", and BN also run by "human" .When blinded by perks and money, many things can wrong.

Just hope that DAP, PKR and PAS, delivers its promise and comes 2013, we have another choice of a wholesome government.

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