Penang's new govt will promote accountability and transparency

PENANG : The motto for Penang's new government under the coalition of the Democratic Action Party and the Party Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) will be Competency, Accountability and transparency (CAT).

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng also wants the business of in the Penang State Assembly to be 'gentlemanly' and productive.

The swearing in ceremony for Penang's state assemblymen recently was a smooth one, minus the sparks which Malaysians witnessed on their TV screens when the Federal Parliament sat for the first time.

"What you want is mature and intelligent debate, not necessary fierce like... what we have seen in the Federal Parliament, (which was) criticised by the public. We don’t want to repeat that," said Opposition Chief of Penang UMNO Azhar Ibrahim.

First Deputy Chief Minister & Parti Keadilan Representative (PKR), Penang, Mohammed Fairus Khairuddin agreed: "We could give a better image on the principle that we are going, on professionalism and high ethics. So I believe all of the Dewan Undangan Negeri representatives should behave well... with the proper etiquette needed to represent the people."

Penang's chief minister feels it will take a while for the people of Penang and Malaysians in general to accept the concept of a clean government.

In its continuing efforts to promote an administration that is transparent and accountable, Chief Minister Lim said it is likely that some of the practices of the previous government would have to be closely looked at and possibly even reviewed.

"We want the people to stop bribing officers and if they feel that government officers have failed to perform, they should be more assertive. Do not be cowed just because they are government officers. You have rights too," said Lim.

For now, anything newly introduced would probably be considered a revolutionary move, like having open tenders for projects.

"And you can imagine the uproar when I spoke of government procurement and government contracts to be carried out by open tender. Even the prime minister said this was unfair... I, for the life of me, can't consider how open tenders can be considered unfair when it is the international norm," said Lim.

"So I think it is time we catch up to internationally-accepted practices and we will continue to institute these reforms. And we feel that the people of Penang have generally supported these measures. This will allow Penang not only to prosper, but running a clean government will be completely and diametrically opposite to the previous model - that you need a little bit of corruption to grow and prosper. We feel that we can be clean and prosper (at the same time)," he added.

Lim is also prepared to be revolutionary when it comes to appointing the best man for the job - like his decision to put Lee Kah Choon as the Chairman and Chief Executive of InvestPenang.

Lee quit his former party Gerakan, which suffered massive losses in the Penang elections, before taking on the new appointment. -

By S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia