Penang Pakatan reps declare assets

All Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen in Penang have declared all the assets that they own.

Last year, only the state executive councillors were instructed to make a public declaration of their assets.

However, the declaration does not cover the properties owned by the assemblymen’s spouses and children.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said that Penang is the first state in the country to introduce this practice.

“We are fulfilling the Pakatan’s election manifesto. We had promised that the declaration of assets would be extended to all assemblymen,” he said at a press conference here yesterday.

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Penang state assembly: Guan Eng apologises for no Q&A

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has apologised for the lack of question and answer session during the current sitting, saying Jagdeep Singh Deo (DAP-Datuk Keramat) has been appointed to handle matters related to the state assembly.

Lim said Jagdeep would be fully responsible for the state legislative assembly to ensure that matter such as the Q&A session would not be dropped in future.

"Jagdeep Singh's role will be to review the recommendation and advice (from the state legal advisor) to ensure the effective functioning of parliamentary democracy as well as to hold talks with the opposition leader after receiving guidance from the Speaker," he said in his winding up speech at the 13th state legislative assembly sitting.


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Pakatan retains Penang

Guan Eng set to be sworn in as chief minister for second term

The Pakatan Rakyat coalition tightened its grip on Penang with more than two-thirds majority after winning 30 state seats to form the state government for another term.

Pakatan also had an increase of one seat from the 29 it won in the 2008 general election after wresting Seberang Jaya from Barisan Nasional.

DAP charted a convincing take-all in the 19 state seats it contested while its allies, PKR won 10, and Pas one in the 40-seat state legislative assembly. Pakatan won 10 out of 13 parliamentary seats in the state, of which DAP won seven and Pas, three.

BN won three parliamentary seats after retaining Tasek Gelugor and Kepala Batas, and wresting Balik Pulau from PKR.



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'Slow action on DAP polls a ploy'

Former Selangor DAP publicity secretary Tan Tuan Tat (left) speaking to reporters as assistant secretary Wong Yi Liuh (centre) and two party members, who were prevented from voting in DAP’s central executive committee election in Decemberlast year, look on in Taman Seri Bayu, Bagan Lalang, yesterday.



Guan Eng responsible for technical glitches, says ex-DAP official

SEPANG: FORMER Selangor DAP publicity secretary Tan Tuan Tat alleged that the party is trying to gain sympathy votes by dilly-dallying in solving the party's election irregularities.

He said this was reflected in the slow action taken by the party on the matter, adding that he believed it could be one of the political ploys by DAP as the general election drew closer.

"The Registrar of Societies (RoS) has given the party many chances (to submit documents on the alleged technical glitches that occurred during the party's central executive committee (CEC) election held in December).

"Instead, they (the party leaders) are playing dumb," he said yesterday.

"Maybe (DAP secretary-general) Lim Guan Eng wants sympathy votes. If he thinks that way, then he is wrong."


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Furnish RM6.3b project details, Penang govt told

Penang BN information chief H’ng Khoon Leng said at a press conference in Georgetown that people can only make wise decisions if the caretaker Penang state government provided details and informed exactly how much each of the proposed tunnel and three highways would cost.


THE Penang Barisan Nasional (BN) Youth has challenged the caretaker state government again to provide all the details of its proposed RM6.3 billion undersea tunnel and highway projects here.

The coalition, which is asking Penang voters to choose between the BN’s free port vision and the Pakatan Rakyat’s proposed under sea tunnel project, said it was the right of the people to know the de tails.

State BN information chief H’ng Khoon Leng said the people could only make wise decisions if the care taker state government provided de tails and informed them exactly how much each of the proposed tunnel and three highways would cost.

“We are asking for the exact cost of each project. After we criticised the Tanjung Bungah—Teluk Bahang paired road for being too expensive, the cost of the project went down from RM58 million to RM37.8 mil lion.

'No way CM not aware of China trip'

Penang Barisan Nasional Youth information chief H’ng Khoon Leng and state Umno Youth chief Dr Shaikh Hussein Mydin want Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to explain why he was not aware of the investment-related trip to China. H’ng says the picture behind was taken during that occasion. Pic by Asman Ibrahim

Mansor would have needed exco nod to represent Penang, says Barisan

GEORGE TOWN: PENANG Barisan Nasional Youth is not buying Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's excuse that he was not aware that his deputy went to China and signed a contract two years ago.

Its information chief, H'ng Khoon Leng, said there was no way Lim could have been ignorant of the matter.

He said there were procedures to follow when official trips were made overseas and challenged Lim to reveal the executive committee paper on Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Mansor Othman's trip.

The paper, said H'ng, would provide details on where Mansor went, who were part of his delegation, how much the trip cost and the objectives of the overseas visit.

GE13: Penang CM recommends assembly be dissolved Friday

GE13: Penang CM recommends assembly be dissolved Friday

GE13: Guan Eng is tired of the ‘political games’ played by Teng

Lim and Teng

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has called off the debate with state Barisan Nasional chief Teng Chang Yeow.

Lim said he had had enough of the “political game” played by Teng and would not entertain his conditions.

“I was tricked by him after accepting his ridiculous condition not to contest a parliamentary seat and only a state seat,” Lim said at a press conference here yesterday.

He said he would now defend the Air Putih state seat, which he won in the 2008 general election, and also stand in a parliamentary seat.

Penang CM chided for not revealing Bosch’s decision to cancel solar plant project

Gerakan has slammed Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng for being irresponsible in keeping mum on Bosch Solar Energy Malaysia Sdn Bhd's decision to cancel plans to build a RM2.2bil solar facility in the state.

Penang Gerakan secretary Goh Kheng Sneah said that instead of informing the public on the big drop in investments himself, Lim delegated the announcement to investPenang executive committee chairman Datuk Simon Wong.

“This was unlike in the past three years when Lim was quick to announce any increase in investments in Penang so as to claim the credit immediately,” said Goh.

CAP chief hits out at Guan Eng's intolerance

NGO says people are afraid to speak or voice objections for fear of upsetting CM

GEORGE TOWN: THE normally cool and calm S.M. Mohamed Idris has finally snapped and the cause of his displeasure is none other than the Penang government, namely Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

Mohamed Idris said Lim's style of governance had turned Penang into a place where an "atmosphere of intolerance" prevailed and people were afraid to speak and voice their objections for fear of upsetting him.

He said it had come to a situation where the state government thought it was more knowledgeable than anyone else and should not be questioned now that they had been chosen by the people.

Chua vs Guan Eng: All seats sold out

All seats have been sold out for the much-anticipated second outing in the debate between MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek and Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng.

Pakatan blames BN for turning Malaysia into ‘king of black money’

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said in a statement that it was time to get rid of “the robber barons in this country”.

Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders faulted the Barisan Nasional (BN) government today for bleeding the country’s coffers through corruption, saying its mismanagement of the economy had turned Malaysia into the “king of black money”.

Pointing to the Global Financial Integrity’s (GFI) findings that Malaysia had lost RM150 billion in 2009 through the siphoning of illicit money, the leaders warned of a bleak future for the country should the ruling pact be allowed to continue its reign.

Guan Eng to sue NST, calls daily ‘evil’ over state secret claims

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said today he is planning to sue the New Straits Times (NST) over claims that he had leaked national secrets after the newspaper omitted him from an apology to two other personalities over an article it admitted was without any foundation or basis.

The NST, Berita Minggu and Mingguan Malaysia apologised to Datuk Seri Kalimullah Hassan on October 23 for alleging that he had leaked state secrets at a dinner with leaders of Singapore’s ruling PAP party.


All three acknowledged that the claim, made by Perkasa information chief Ruslan Kassim, was without any foundation or basis.

The weekend papers also promised not to publish further allegations of this nature involving the ECM Libra Financial Group Bhd chairman without prior verification.

Guan Eng wins suit against Utusan

Utusan Malaysia has been ordered by a High Court here to pay RM200,000 in damages to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng for publishing a defamatory article concerning the latter.

Justice Varghese George Varughese, in allowing the defamation suit by Lim against the Malay daily, said he had examined the seven paragraphs containing the defamatory words and found that they were malicious, had intention to mislead readers and was written in bad faith.

"The article was mere rhetoric and not backed by facts.

"There was also no verification of information in the article as the writer (of the article) had said that there was a boycott of Utusan Malaysia and therefore, he could not verify the facts," he said in his decision Wednesday which took slightly more than an hour to read out.

"They (Utusan Malaysia) should have made at least one attempt to verify the facts, which would have made their article bona fide," he said.

Police detain nine after protest

Nine demonstrators were arrested at Komtar here yesterday after they staged a protest against the state government.

They were among 300 people, from Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia (Perkasa), Suara Anak-Anak Malaysia and Pertubuhan Kebajikan Insan Mulia, who marched to Komtar at noon, to hand a memorandum to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

The hour-long protest caused massive traffic snarls at roads surrounding Komtar.

The demonstrators, some on foot and others on motorcycles, began their march in Jalan Penang at noon.

They bore placards bearing anti-Ng Wei Aik slogans as a sign of protest against the Komtar assemblyman, and gathering outside Komtar, the state's administrative centre, to voice their discontent.

I will not contest poll, says Koh

Gerakan president Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon will not contest in the next general election to start off ‘leadership renewal’ in the party.

Najib: Leave families out of politics

 
The prime minister said today that in a modern democracy, the ideal scenario would be for all parties to concentrate on policy matters.


Datuk Seri Najib Razak moved today to end allegations of sexual harassment levelled against Lim Guan Eng’s son by calling on politicians to leave family members out of politics.

“That is ideal in a modern democracy where you concentrate on policy matters.

“You can debate the differences in policies in terms of weaknesses of implementation but you leave aside family, or the exploitation of family matters for your own political gain,” the prime minister told reporters today.

Pro-Umno bloggers had claimed that the DAP Secretary-General’s son had assaulted a 16-year-old schoolmate and had tried to escape punishment by using his father’s name.

Rais, Guan Eng in language row after Chinese school visit

Guan Eng has accused the BN minister of mounting a serial attack to “undermine the Penang state government with lies and racist sentiments”

Datuk Seri Rais Yatim has struck back at Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng for labelling him a liar in a language row that is threatening to turn into a racial issue that could split Malaysians further at the next polls predicted to be called early next year.

The information, communication and culture minister attacked Lim for warning the former “not [to] lie like Utusan Malaysia but prove which Penang state government official function he attended that sidelined Bahasa Malaysia”.

“There is no reason for Lim Guan Eng to state I was ‘lying’ like Utusan. The host Han Chiang (College) did not use a single word of the national language, Bahasa Melayu, that night,” Umno-owned Malay daily, Utusan Malaysia, reported Rais as saying today.

DAP takes dig at BN parties over hudud

Lim said the hudud issue had been played up to create cracks within Pakatan Rakyat.

The DAP said today that Barisan Nasional’s (BN) unity should also be questioned following disagreement among component parties in the ruling coalition over the implementation of hudud law.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng told reporters that since the issue of hudud has been played up to create cracks within Pakatan Rakyat (PR), BN too should be asked the same question.

“MCA doesn’t agree to hudud. Umno agrees. So will BN split? Why is this not asked of BN?” the Penang chief minister said.

MCA president Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek said this morning that it will leave the ruling coalition if hudud law is implemented by Umno.

“MCA’s stand is very clear. We will object strongly to hudud. If Umno wants to implement hudud, we will pull MCA out of Barisan Nasional — simple as that,” he said.

Koh dares Lim to reveal Penang blueprint

The former chief minister of Penang, Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, has challenged his successor to reveal an industrial development blueprint for the state.

He claimed that Lim Guan Eng had announced in Singapore last year that the state government had a plan for Penang but there was nothing to show so far.

“Maybe after today, Lim will quickly pull something together but I want to remind him that it's been a year,” Dr Koh said when opening the Penang Barisan Nasional convention at the Tabung Haji Complex in Bayan Lepas yesterday.

Dr Koh, who is also Penang Barisan chairman, said the late Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu had started the economic transformation for the state.