DAP Broken Records

The Penang DAP sounds more like a broken record nowadays. When Penang DAP voters dumped Koh Tsu Koon-led Gerakan for DAP, they genuinely believed that DAP could bring about the changes they were all looking forward to.  DAP, together with their Pakatan Rakyat partners threw in a manifesto that everyone thought was Utopian that even they did not think that they would wrestle any of the states from the Barisan Nasional.  However, thank you (or no thank you) to Mahathir whose personal attacks on the then-Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, the Pakatan Rakyat was caught with their pants off when they actually won.  They had to now live up to the manifesto and promises they had made.

No thank you to Mahathir as the current problems faced by the Penang people are all started by his attacks on Abdullah, but thanks to him voters get to see the real face of the DAP.

Pakatan Rakyat's Manifesto for the 13th General Elections http://mansorothman.blogspot.my/2013/04/manifesto-pakatan-rakyat-negeri-pulau.html
Pakatan Rakyat’s Manifesto for the 13th General Elections
http://mansorothman.blogspot.my/2013/04/manifesto-pakatan-rakyat-negeri-pulau.html

In 2008, the DAP-led state government quickly introduced the principles of Competent, Accountability and Transparency (CAT) to the people of Penang.  This was repeated in the manifesto for the 2013 General Elections as shows above.  In the first bullet it stated that the administration of the CAT would be improved; all state assemblymen would be transparent and declare their assets; strengthen the freedom of information enactment; forbid family members of assemblymen from conducting businesses.  What has been going on in real life has far digressed from the “clean government” manifesto.

The Penang state government is far from being competent, accountable and transparent.  Its Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng was charged in court for two counts of corruption cum abuse of position; the only declaration of assets to the public was by Lim Guan Eng when he invited the press into his controversial bungalow on Jalan Pinhorn to show them that there is no swimming pool; according to FreedomInfo.org, a global network of freedom of information advocates, Penang’s Freedom of Information policy does not comply to international definitions and is restrictive; family members of Penang’s state assemblymen especially the office holders are found to be conducting businesses like nobody’s business.  The latest involves Lim Kiat Seong, father of State Assemblyman Lim Siew Khim.

Lim Kiat Seong, father of Assemblyman Lim Siew Khim, was seen in a video about corruption involving a housing scheme in Penang
Lim Kiat Seong, father of Assemblyman Lim Siew Khim, was seen in a video about corruption involving a housing scheme in Penang

In a video that was made public by Penang Gerakan’s Oh Tong Keong, Kiat Seong, 68 years old was seen with a middleman and a complainant who argued that he had made a RM260 payment to bypass the Low-Cost Housing process but had yet to receive an offer letter.

In her defence, Lim Siew Khim who is also Wanita DAP Chief said that her father’s business has nothing to do with her, and that she has never heard anyone compaining about the issue in her constituency.  She even claimed to not have any knowledge of the issue.  I can only make the following deductions about Siew Khim:

  1. She never goes down to the ground to care about the grassroots;
  2. She does not care about the goings-on in her constituency;
  3. She does not think what her father did is wrong;
  4. She thinks the voters are stupid and would just accept her explanation at face value.

Lim Kiat Seong went missing immediately after the video was made public.  The MACC later found him and arrested him, and after being grilled for five hours, led the MACC to two properties where documents related to the case were seized.  Lim Siew Khim arrived at the MACC’s office on Jalan Northam at 10am for questioning.

Ironically, Lim Kiat Seong and Lim Kit Siang, father of charged-for-corruption Lim Guan Eng, share the same Chinese characters in their name (林吉祥).  Lim Kiat Seong is how the name is pronounced in Hokkien while Lim Kit Siang is Southern Min Chinese!

DAP loves to point to the mistakes made by others, the Barisan Nasional in particular.  It would go on and on about any issues brought forth that implicates anyone from the Barisan Nasional that they begin to sound like a broken heavy metal record that unfortunately repeats the shrieks instead of the strums. And the DAP has also chosen to not see that it has perhaps broken records for having the most number of corruption or corrupted-practices cases in slightly less than two terms.

I would be very amused if come GE14, the voters in Penang prove Lim Siew Khim’s Point Number Four right.

 

Rashid Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang Melayu Pertama?

Masihkah anda ingat skandal-skandal yang pernah membelenggu UMNO akibat salahlaku dua orang penjawat awam UMNO pada tahun 1990an dan awal 2000? Sekiranya anda terlalu muda untuk mengingati peristiwa-peristiwa tersebut, mari kita imbas semula kejadian-kejadian tersebut.


Kejadian pertama pada tahun 1997 melibatkan Menteri Besar Selangor ketika itu iaitu Tan Sri Muhammad bin Mohd Taib. Muhammad yang sebelum itu mempunyai satu lagi skandal iaitu berkahwin lari bersama Tengku Zahariah binti Tengku Abdul Aziz Shah di Takbai, Selatan Thailand pada tahun 1993, telah ditahan di Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Brisbane, Australia kerana cuba membawa keluar wang berjumlah RM2.4 juta tanpa membuat deklarasi kepada pihak berkuasa Australia.


Apabila didakwa di mahkamah di Brisbane, Muhammad dengan segera melepaskan jawatan beliau sebagai Menteri Besar negeri Selangor.


Muhammad diganti oleh Abu Hassan Omar yang ketika itu merupakan seorang Ahli Parlimen. Satu pilihanraya kecil serentak terpaksa diadakan di Parlimen Kuala Selangor dan DUN Permatang untuk membolehkan Abu Hassan bertukar kerusi dengan Jamaluddin Adnan. Namun Abu Hassan tidak lama menjawat jawatan sebagai Menteri Besar Selangor kerana didakwa terbabit dengan suatu skandal seka dan beliau pula melepaskan jawatan pada tahun 2000.

Maka, saya berpendapat adalah baiknya Saudara Lim Guan Eng juga meletakkan jawatan beliau sebagai Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang kerana telahpun didakwa atas kesalahan salahguna kuasa dan rasuah pada 30hb Jun 2016. Pertamanya, ianya tidak akan menyebabkan dakwaan terhadapnya terpalit dan memburukkan lagi nama parti beliau, DAP.

Kedua, sekiranya beliau tidak meletakkan jawatan ianya boleh membenarkan beliau masih mempengerusikan mesyuarat-mesyuarat yang melibatkan hal ehwal jawatankuasa kelulusan projek negeri Pulau Pinang. Sudah tentu ini akan merupakan percanggahan kepentingan bukan sahaja bagi pihak beliau, malahan juga buat Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang.

Ketiga, jika kita imbau kembali peristiwa Tan Sri Muhammad di Brisbane, Lim Guan Eng ada membuat kenyataan berikut kepada para pemberita asing:


Maka eloklah beliau lepaskan jawatan Ketua Menteri kerana ia membawa malu yang amat sangat kepada negara. Dan seperti kata beliau sendiri, “Ianya tidak memberi petunjuk baik mengenai tahap kawalan rasuah di Malaysia.”

Mungkin sudah sampai masanya Timbalan Ketua Menteri 1, YB Dato Haji Mohd Rashid bin Hasnon, mengambil alih pucuk pimpinan negeri. Saya amat yakin DAP, sebagai sebuah parti pelbagai bangsa, bersetuju dengan saranan saya ini.