Gerakan may give Guan Eng an 'F' but its overkill may make it a laughing stock

Penang Gerakan has marked Cheif Minister Lim Guan Eng and the Pakatan Rakyat state government an "F" for overall performance in terms of competency, accountability and transparency.

However, the tide of public opinion is clearly against them and instead of hitting bull-eyes, their overkill has drawn sarcasm against the party, which Pengites had rejected en masse in the 2008 polls.

"If it is so bad as an F, which is a serious fail and not a D or a C, who would take these guys seriously? Gerakan only make laughing stocks of themselves," PKR vice president Chua Jui Meng told Malaysia Chronicle.

"It also shows that they don't follow or believe their own government's Auditor-General's Report which has rated Penang and Selangor as the best managed in the states in the country, way ahead of the BN. The overkill in their attack shows Gerakan's political immaturity."

5 core areas

The Penang state assembly or Parliament has 40 seats, of which 29 are held by Pakatan - a huge reversal from the 38 held by BN after the 2004 polls. DAP now holds 19, PKR 9 and PAS 1.

Within BN, Umno has all the 11 seats, while Gerakan which considers Penang its bastion was completely wiped out. So too were MCA and MIC, who also returned zero seats in the 2008 election.

Nonetheless, in an effort to show its 'claws', Gerakan's possibly slightly immature leaders held a press conference called 'Skin the CAT', referring to the Pakatan's Competency, Accountability and Transparency style of governance.

Gerakan listed 5 core areas to criticise and these included the the Penang International Convention and Exhibition Centre or sPICE, the ‘Kancil’ carpark at the foot of Penang Hill, the state’s so-called ‘free’ wifi project, illegal telecommunication towers and traffic congestion.

State Gerakan publicity bureau chief Thor Teong Ghee accused DAP of lopsided agreement favouring sPICE developer, Eco Meridian Developer. He rebuked Lim for exceeding the 1,500 units ceiling placed on density. Guan Eng has defended the decision plus giving free land to build 450-low and medium cost homes, because by doing so, he says it would save the state government RM250 million.

Free WiFi and FOI

Gerakan's Thor demanded the contract details to be fully published, ignoring the fact that Lim has last week announced the state would table a Freedom of Information Bill that would declassify all state contracts in order to deter and control corruption.

Thor, who is BN coordinator for Sungai Pinang, also criticised the Pakatan's ‘free’ Wifi project with 750 hotspots as bogus. He pointed out that Guan Eng signed signed a RM8.5 million agreement with a private company, Redtone.

“For that amount of money, each hot spot would cost Penangites some RM11,000... what does the state government mean by free-wifi?” asked Thor.

Ignorant

But pundit slammed his ignorance.

"We are spending state money which belongs to the people to benefit the people. It is free Wi-Fi because there are no monthly bills. Isn't this better than keeping the funds for mega projects that do not benefit the public, while making them pay in addition to their taxes, monthly charges for WiFi, which is a necessity," Sim Tze Tsin, the PKR Pantai Jerejak assemblyman told Malaysia Chronicle.

Nevertheless, it did not stop Gerakan for further spearing Guan Eng and the Pakatan state government.

“No roads are widened, flyovers constructed or roads modified to cope with the increasing traffic woes and what about improving the public transport?” said Thor.

“If it cannot even build a carpark properly, how can they develop Penang? The state government only knows how to blame the previous government although in the case of the carpark, it is their responsibility. This clearly shows that the Pakatan government is only good at making false promises, and saying sweet nothings,” said Baljit Singh, the Gerakan legal and human rights chief, who was also at the press conference.

Malaysia Chronicle