Month: October 2013

2013 Deepavali By DAP Secretary-General And MP For Bagan Lim Guan Eng In Kuala Lumpur On 30.10.2013.

Replacing SST Which Earns The Federal Government RM 16.4 Billion Annually With The 6% GST Which Will Earn Double At RM32 Billion Annually.

Malaysians want a brighter future for our children that they be given equal opportunities, treated with dignity and live a more prosperous and peaceful lives that were denied to their parents. Malaysians do not want to be divided and discriminated between Malays and non-Malays, Muslims and non-Muslims or PR and non-PR states.
 
Hindus also feel marginalised when their religious sensitivities are trampled upon in schools, temples torn down and appeals to boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) next month in Colombo on human rights grounds in solidarity with the tens of thousands of Tamils massacred by the Sri Lankan government, not respected.
 
Instead of using fear and hate to cover up corruption and abuse of power, Malaysians want to be united around values of justice, freedom, democracy, integrity and truth. We want our problems of burgeoning national debt and deficit to be addressed and not impose new taxes or remove subsidies to the poor without removing subsidies for the rich.

Continue reading “2013 Deepavali Message – Replacing SST Which Earns The Federal Government RM 16.4 Billion Annually With The 6% GST Which Will Earn Double At RM32 Billion Annually (en/bm/cn/tamil)”

Press Statement By Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng In Kuala Lumpur On 18.10.2013.

Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad(Prasarana) Group Managing Director Shahril Mokhtar Should Not Rely On Insults In His Tweets That Demeans Me As A “Cendol Seller” To Evade Explaining How Prasarana’s Business Model Based On Double-Standards Can Be Both Profitable And Fulfill Its Statutory Duty Of Providing A “Public Good” Of A Reliable And Efficient Public Transport.

Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad(Prasarana) Group Managing Director Datuk Shahril Mokhtar should not rely on insults in his tweets, that demeans me as a “cendol seller” to evade explaining how prasarana’s business model based on double-standards can be both profitable and fulfill its statutory duty of providing a “public good” of a reliable and efficient public transport.
 
I do not personally feel insulted to be labelled as a cendol seller as this is an honest occupation in Penang. However my supporters feel this is bad behaviour from a Group Managing Director of Prasarana to make personal attacks against the Penang Chief Minister.
 
Clearly Shahril shows that he is bankrupt of ideas in managing a Government Linked Corporation(GLC) with billions of ringgit in assets and responsible for the country’s LRT and Monorail systems as well as operates RapidKL and RapidPenang.  He is incompetent, unprofessional and unfit to be a Group Managing Director of Prasarana, if his response to public criticism is to make personal insults.
 
Continue reading “Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad(Prasarana) Group Managing Director Shahril Mokhtar Should Not Rely On Insults In His Tweets That Demeans Me As A “Cendol Seller” To Evade Explaining How Prasarana’s Business Model Based On Double-Standards Can Be Both Profitable And Fulfill Its Statutory Duty Of Providing A “Public Good” Of A Reliable And Efficient Public Transport. (en/cn)”

Message By Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng To Penang Real Estate & Housing Developers’ Association (REHDA) Malaysia, Penang Branch On Their 39th Anniversary Celebrations Released In Komtar, Penang On 17.10.2013

The Penang PR State Government Does Not Seek Political Vengeance Against Housing Developers Who Opposed PR By Pouring Huge Sums Of Money In The Last General Elections But Will Adhere To Rules And Procedures That Promotes Certainty, Clarity, Competency And Continuity.

I want to refer to a letter to the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak by a young 27 year old Malaysian woman Siti Hajar questioning the wisdom of the government’s decision to increase petrol prices. She revealed that the middle-income group is feeling the pinch with the rising costs of living because their salaries are not low enough to qualify them to receive the BR1M RM 1,000 aid, but not high enough to buy their own homes because of escalating house prices.

REDHA has played an important role representing the interests of developers in Penang.  In seeing development, the crying need of those who are less wealthy, who have yet to own a home, have to be met.  For this reason, the state government has undertaken to build 22,172 units of affordable housing throughout the 5 districts of Penang and adopt controls to ensure that housing developers do their fair share of building affordable housing.

I urge REHDA members to support the state government’s initiatives in building affordable homes and raise any concerns with the state government. The state government does not believe in political vengeance nor in discriminating Penangites based on race, religion, political background or social standing.

Continue reading “The Penang PR State Government Does Not Seek Political Vengeance Against Housing Developers Who Opposed PR By Pouring Huge Sums Of Money In The Last General Elections But Will Adhere To Rules And Procedures That Promotes Certainty, Clarity, Competency And Continuity. (en/bm/cn)”

Press Statement By DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng And MP For Bagan In Kuala Lumpur On 17.10.2013.

BN Is Destroying Religious Harmony In Malaysia By Irresponsibly And Deviously Exploiting Islam For Selfish Political Gain By Allowing The Word ‘Allah’ To Be Used By Christians In Sabah And Sarawak In Their Worship, Including In The Malay-Language Bible Al-Kitab, But Not In Peninsular Malaysia.

BN is destroying religious harmony in Malaysia by irresponsibly and deviously exploiting islam for selfish political gain by allowing the word ‘Allah’ to be used by Christians in Sabah and Sarawak in their worship, including in the Malay-language bible Al-Kitab, but not in Peninsular Malaysia. This is the only conclusion to be made from Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Joseph Kurup surprising announcement as reported by Sin Chew Daily today on the cabinet decision yesterday.

Joseph Kurup said the cabinet decided to fall back on the 10-point solution because this issue has created much dissatisfaction and worry among Sabah and Sarawak Christians. The 10-point solution allows for the importation into and printing of Bibles of any language in Malaysia including al-Kitab which uses the word ‘Allah’. The question arises then is what about Sabahans and Sarawakians working in Peninsular Malaysia – are they permitted or banned from using “Allah” in Kuala Lumpur or Johor Baru?
 
Clearly this Cabinet decision shows that the Home Ministry’s decision to ban the use of the word “Allah” in the Catholic publication, “The Herald” is not based on protecting the sanctity of Islam. Instead the proposed ban on the word “Allah” is a naked attempt to openly and directly infringe on the rights of non-Muslim of freedom of religion so that UMNO can score political points with Muslims and Malays.
 
Continue reading “BN Is Destroying Religious Harmony In Malaysia By Irresponsibly And Deviously Exploiting Islam For Selfish Political Gain By Allowing The Word ‘Allah’ To Be Used By Christians In Sabah And Sarawak In Their Worship, Including In The Malay-Language Bible Al-Kitab, But Not In Peninsular Malaysia (en/cn)”

Press Statement By DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng And MP For Bagan In Kuala Lumpur On 16.10.2013.

In Failing To Stop Corruption, The Prime Minister Must Explain Plans To Cut State Subsidies, Broaden Its Tax Base And Manage Spending ‘Prudently’ To Avoid Malaysia’s Credit Rating From Being Cut By Fitch Ratings.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak must explain how he plans to cut state subsidies, broaden its tax base and manage spending ‘prudently’ to avoid Malaysia’s credit rating from being cut by Fitch Ratings. Fitch Ratings had cutMalaysia’s credit outlook from stable to negative in July, citing rising debt levels and a lack of budgetary reform.

At 53.3%, Malaysia’s debt-to-gross domestic product(GDP) ratio is the highest among 12 emerging Asian markets after Sri Lanka. With government guarantees, the government’s credit exposure was 70.2% of GDP as of the end of the second quarter, up from 66.6% a year earlier. Malaysia household debt to GDP ratio is even higher at 83% as at 2013, up from 66.7% in 2004, the second highest in Asia.

Is Najib talking about further increase in petrol, sugar and food prices when he talked of cutting state subsidies? Is Najib going to implement open competitive tenders to cut down crony capitalism when he talked of managing spending prudently?

Continue reading “In Failing To Stop Corruption, The Prime Minister Must Explain Plans To Cut State Subsidies, Broaden Its Tax Base And Manage Spending ‘Prudently’ To Avoid Malaysia’s Credit Rating From Being Cut By Fitch Ratings (en/cn/bm)”

Press Statement By Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng In Komtar, George Town On 15.10.2013.

Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad(Prasarana) Should Explain How A Business Model Based On Double-Standards Can Be Both Profitable And Fulfill Its Statutory Duty Of Providing A “Public Good” Of A Reliable And Efficient Public Transport.

Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad(Prasarana) should explain how a business model based on double-standards can be both profitable and fulfill its statutory duty of providing a “public good” of a reliable and efficient public transport. This follows Prasarana’s rejection of the Penang state government’s offer of a RM 10 million annual grant in 2011 to provide free bus rides throughout the state of Penang for 7 hours during the peak hours of 6-9am and 4.30pm-8.30pm from Mondays to Fridays.

Prasarana group managing director Datuk Shahril Mokhtar said that accepting the RM10 million annual grant from the Penang state government would worsen the government-linked company’s (GLC) financial position, but he did not state the losses that would be incurred if the offer was accepted. This offer was concluded verbally with all parties concerned during a meeting in Kuala Lumpur in 2011 but was never implemented even though the state government had followed up in writing.

If Prasarana is suddenly so obsessed about profits, then why did they pay in 2011, 1.5 to 2 months bonuses to their staff which is higher than the 1 month bonus received by ordinary government civil servants, despite Prasarana suffering huge losses of RM 763 million? The Auditor-General’s Report 2012 revealed that seven Government-linked corporations(GLCs) rewarded their employees with bonuses despite recording combined losses amounting to RM2bil in 2011.

Continue reading “Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad(Prasarana) Should Explain How A Business Model Based On Double-Standards Can Be Both Profitable And Fulfill Its Statutory Duty Of Providing A “Public Good” Of A Reliable And Efficient Public Transport. (en/cn)”