Shadow Policy Committee

We would like to urge members and leaders of the Bagan Parliamentary Liaison Committee to stop their internal bickering on the JKKK appointment issues which had long underway until it resulted to an attempted resignation of a senior party leader. Why all this internal politicking by stabbing one's back and another? What benefit does all this have to do in our contribution to the party's stability? Why after gaining power after the last general elections, every party branch leaders are afraid of each others, watching over each other and be vary of each other? Why can't we work together and stand as one like we have been when we were in the Oppostion. We wish to remind all party members to refrain from making any speculations to the press by saying there will be resignations, by-elections and so on. We are also gravely disappointed with one of our parliamentary committee member (who is also a former election candidate in Seberang Perai Tengah previously) who has been identifi...

Penang should be granted equal treatment in preferential airport charges and benefits as enjoyed by the Malacca Airport, said Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng. "Penang as a Unesco World Heritage Site just like Malacca should also be given such incentives,” he said during the Penang Development Corporation and InvestPenang appreciation dinner at Bukit Jambul Country Club yesterday. Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam had earlier said he received a letter from Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat for the Malacca Airport to enjoy benefits under the Government’s incentive schemes to promote tourism in Malaysia. This includes a RM25 incentive for each incoming passenger for the first 12 months for new airlines flying to new routes or increasing flight frequency. Another benefit is the RM10 to RM15 incentive for each incoming passenger after the period, depending on the performances of the air carriers. Also included is a deferment of landing cha...

The Penang state government and Gerakan continued bickering over the decision to turn down a US$3bil (RM10.1bil) investment deal because the state government could not guarantee 1,000 electric and electronic (E&E) engineers required by the company. In a statement yesterday, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s special investment officer Jeffrey Chew lashed out at Gerakan for using hit-and-run tactics and practising a “promise first hope later” attitude. "The Penang state government is not as irresponsible as Gerakan in making empty promises that would jeopardise our credibility,” he said, adding that the state government could incur loses as much as US$3bil to compensate the investors should it be unable to fulfill its own guarantees. Chew said this in response to criticism from Penang Gerakan chief Datuk Dr Teng Hock Nan who said the state could not afford to turn away investors. Chew said the Malaysian Employers Federation, among other bodies, had detailed the shortage of E...

By Viktor Wong In the prime minister’s speech at the recently concluded Gerakan national delegates conference which he officiated, Datuk Najib Razak told the Gerakan delegates and the people that racist comments from one or two Umno leaders should be ignored, Umno is not a racist party and don’t listen to one or two leaders’ talk. Does Najib think that by ignoring these “one or two racist Umno leaders” would be enough? Or why does he think that by ignoring these racist would be effective to curb them out of political influence? And are there really only “one or two” racist Umno leaders as he claimed? Since from the beginning of Umno’s inception till today, we had seen more than just “one or two” racist Umno leader wielding and yielding racist and supremacist jargons as well as threatened the lives of other communities. So, we want to correct Najib’s error, it is actually between “one to two thousand”. And we hope he does acknowledge his error. By just ignoring these racist Umno leaders...

By Viktor Wong Since Datuk Najib Razak took over as prime minister, he introduced the 1Malaysia concept which is to be undertaken by his administration. But does he realize that, if he is serious about racial integration, it must be first by revamping the entire educational system? Has Najib ever looked into this first prior to his commencement of 1Malaysia? Almost all of us agreed that in order to foster greater racial integration today, it must be start from school with its educational system first. However, today we still hear reasons given by non-Malay parents for not wanting to send their children to national schools. Their core concern is the overly emphasizing of Islam in national schools and due to this the national schools has been increasingly dominated by Malay students which by now had turned these national schools into “Malay schools” or “Islamic schools” instead of its origin position as national schools. In the past and present, the federal government and its education m...

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has recommended that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) or the police to investigate former Transport Minister Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy and former Port Klang Authority (PKA) general manager Datin Paduka OC Phang for criminal breach of trust over the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project. The committee, which is investigating the scandal-ridden PKFZ, has found both Chan and Phang to have breached Section 14 (1) of the Financial Procedure Act 1957 by issuing three letters of support and three letters of undertaking without the approval of the Finance Ministry. PAC said the Attorney-General revealed that the three letters of support issued by Chan and three undertaking letters issued by Phang had implicitly placed responsibility on the Government to ensure there is allocation for PKA to fulfil its obligation under the development agreement. “Hence, thorough investigation by the MACC or police on these matters were required as the letters were i...