Monday, March 1, 2010

Absolute Monarchy In Penang?

Hantu Laut

The Star reported here.

Absolute monarchy in Penang? Or was it communistic-minded as inferred by former PKR's Zahrain Hashim?

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has given himself absolute power in sacking any contractor appointed by the state at any time without having to give any reason whatsoever for the cancellation.

Does Lim think by inserting such clause in the agreement it would protect him from legal action if he decides to cancel such contract on his whim and fancy?

Lim should familiarise himself with the law of contract and rules of fair play.Such contract is deemed lopsided and could be challenged in the court of law.

Is this just another of UMNO's war of attrition against him and Pakatan Rakyat or there is truth to the story?

To be fair to Lim, let us not jump to conclusion, let us hear his side of the story

9 comments:

SM said...

HL,

You do a dis-service to your intregity & your "journalistic" capability by reporting what the Star, Utusan or for that matter any BN controlled MSM says (no one in his right mind believes what the Utusan, Star & NST says!
However you redeem yourself somewhat by stating that we should not draw any conclusions until you hear what Lim says.
I doubt many M'sians know that the Auditor General has given the Selangor & Penang Governments the highest rating in terms of "Good Governance" since Mar 2008! To me that says a lot of what Lim (& Khalid in Sgor) is doing.

Anonymous said...

Gee SM... were Selangor & Penang the ONLY ones receiving such credits from Auditor General?

Anonymous said...

SM,

Majority of the rakyat do read these newspapers like NST, Star & Utusan as they writes and reports what they see. It is your choice if you choose not to read. It appears that you are PR strong supporter base on your comments on Selangor & Penang. I don't think Penang has Good Governance ratings if what's reported about Lim having a veto say in all Penang tenders is true!

SM said...

Anon 12:10PM,

Utusan writes what it sees?! All the Utusan has been doing over the last year is "stir" up Racial Tensions by pitting the Malays against the Non-Malays!
If the Utusan is really following what Najib talks about daily...i.e. Tolerance, Unity, 1-Malaysia, etc, etc then the Utusan won't be spewing its dangerous crap daily.
Even the BN supporters don't bother with what the MSN are saying anymore as they know it's just plain crap!

eddy said...

I don't know Bro, it its true then maybe Lim is surrounded by people who are just plain power crazy. No way that kind of clause where an award of a tender can be cancelled without any reason by the CM or Chairman of PDC can hold in court, any court for that matter, its against the natural rule of justice.

I do not know about good governance report for 2008 lah, but Lim Guan Eng talks about CAT, competency, accountability and transparency. Just a lot of hot air rhetoric and not about doing the job of governing the state. For the last two years Guan has not shown much competency even blowing a 10 billion Ringgit investment because he was afraid of getting sued, never showing anything remotely accountable but prefers putting blame on any wrong to the former BN Government and transparency? Having appointed himself as Head of the Tender Board with absolute power to choose who the Penang Government awards is transparency? and now also gave himself the power to cancel a contract without cause is transparency? That's dictatorship DAP Lim Guan Eng style for you.

The Auditor General missed this dictatorial clause in 2008 and also factoring in the nasty scheming of the Selangor Government to take back land earmarked for University Development work at Serendah already given to Yayasan Basmi Kemiskinan and who should forget the controversial 391 million debt buy-over of Talam described by ex PKR Sec-GEn as old trick used by crooks in the corporate sector. I think the Auditor General will be hard pressed to refer to Selangor and Penang as having good governance for 2009. If at all.

...and Bro SM please do not insult us readers of the MSM papers as they like me have a mind of our own and do decide what is believable and what is downright ridiculous. Yes Bro I also read the Malaysiakini(I subscribe), the Malaysianinsider and Harakah. Personally, I don't read the Malaysia Today or PKR Suara Keadilan as its hypocrisy and half truths and downright lies almost jumps out of its pages. OK Cool Bro.

Lim Koon Toot said...

I used to dislike this father-and-son party. But with incredible comments like yours (absolute monarchy lah, communist lah), you know what?, I'm beginning to like them! Maybe, one of these days, I might even join them! LOL! :))

Anonymous said...

Hantu,

LGE must have done many right things despite what you and the MSMs had written about him, bcause for the peanuts that the federal government is contributing to the developemnt of Penang, I can see great developments all over the island, during the recent CNY holiday !

You forgot, it is what people can see and feel that counts and not the garbage spewed !

And as far as I am concerned, as long as LGE uses the rights to reject any tender that is won by contractors that only do disservices to the penangites, I really couldn't care less if that clause makes him a dictator !

why don't you take a trip to penang, walk the streets, talk to the people and gauge for yourself ??

Purple Haze said...

From the Edge, Oct 2009 :

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang state government has received praise in the auditor general's 2008 report for its cost-cutting measures and prudent ways, which have resulted in the state's consolidated funds increasing 21.1% (RM178.45 million) from RM847.45 million in 2007 to RM1.02 billion in 2008.

The report states the consolidated funds stood at RM703.66 million in 2004, RM794.68 million in 2005 and RM770.49 million in 2006.

The report says the state's expenditure was reduced by RM35.41 million or by 11.1% due to its cost-cutting measures and priority being given to spending on the people or for people-centric programmes.

The report lists the reasons for the reduction in expenses, which included only filling up critical vacancies, reduction in hotel expenses for seminars, courses and workshops, and also using cheaper air travel and government vehicles as modes of transportation for functions.

Other reductions in expenses include the freeze on new asset purchases and other uncommitted expenditure.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, an accountant by training said it was the first time that the state's consolidated funds reached above the RM1 billion mark.

He said the state government was vindicated with the auditor-general's overall analysis, which described the state's financial status at the end of 2008 as good.

"This clearly shows that our efforts to cut costs and implement thrifty measures have been effective and this state government is moving in the right direction. The state's finances have improved for the better and not worse with this state government.

"We have managed to save hundreds of millions of ringgit, but we will still look into the report which questions the RM31,000 discrepancy in tyre purchases. Every sen counts and the state financial officer Farizan Darus will be giving a detailed account on what transpired," Lim said at a press conference after launching the Penang Economic Monthly magazine, published by Penang's Socio Economic Research Institute.

Also present were Farizan and Chief Minister 2 Prof P Ramasamy.

Lim said with the savings achieved, the state government would also expand it deficit budget for 2010, to carry out more people-centric projects including giving out aid to the elderly and other needy Penangites and also to stimulate the economy.

The auditor general's report also named two state-owned agencies -- the Penang Development Corp and the state financial department -- as those among 16 agencies/departments in the country with a four star-listing for achieving above 90% in their financial management.


Perhaps Lim Guan Eng does have a dictatorial style but nonetheless, he is getting high marks from the govt's Auditor General.

Other states financial health may have also been declared "good" by the Auditor General and maybe I missed them being reported in the MSM or internet blogs. Heck, if I received a good report from the AG, I would surely want to shout it out loud. Can anyone point out the other states who have been declared in "good" financial health by the AG's report ?

SM said...

Bro Eddy,

I apologise if you feel insulted BUT with the continuous Racial Garbage that the MSM (especially Utusan) spews, no wonder the circulation numbers of these Newspapers have fallen drastically!
As for Online Portals, I do read Malaysia Today (it does publish from various sources & RPK does not only "blast" BN BUt he also does blast DSAI & PR) but I do not read the Harakah or PKR's Suara Keadilan (as I'm sure they are one sided just as the pro-UMNO/BN portals are one-sided too & I try not to read one-sided news).
With the amount of money the Federal Govt is giving the Opposition States (not to mention the other "crap" they are stirring continuously) you can be sure that the Opposition States have to resort to "harsh" options.
As for the Auditor General...he is a Govt Servant & to give a good report to these Opposition States "says" alot.