The fall of three parliamentary seats in the Kinta Valley to the DAP should serve as a wake-up call to BN/MCA. While BN improved its performance in practically all seats, the Ipoh Timor and Batu Gajah parliamentary seats witnessed the defeat of BN candidates with huge majorities.

Though DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang's popularity earned him votes, his big win in Ipoh was also attributed to protest votes against the local council and state administration. Over the years, the Ipoh City Council has become complacent and less effective in serving the people.

Instead of playing a more participative role in the development of the city, the present Datuk Bandar has chosen to go after couples holding hands in public in his moral campaign to wipe out vice in the city. This issue has been played up by the DAP and has cost BN substantial loss of votes.

The state administration has been less than proactive in ensuring continued development for the city. The previous mentri besar has done very little for the city and the state as a whole, compared to the menteri besar of states like Negeri Sembilan, Melaka or Johor.

Almost every state has a vision that it strives to achieve, like Kedah 2010 or Melaka 2010. What about Perak, once the most developed and richest state in Malaysia? It has not changed much for 20 years since the fall of the tin mining industry. Will it be in time to achieve Vision 2020?

Perak is too dependent on Penang and Selangor in many aspects, be it job or education opportunities. It is sad that Ipoh, being the state capital, and even accorded city status many years ago, has nothing to offer to its people and the whole state of Perak.

Every year, thousands of students have to leave Ipoh to further their studies. When they complete their studies, they see no reason to return to their beloved city which has no jobs to offer them.

With this in mind, shouldn't the state government fight for a local university to be built in Ipoh besides encouraging the establishment of other private universities and colleges in the city?

It is hard to attract investments to the city since Ipoh's airport is under-utilised with no direct air links to international cities. For a start, the airport should be located further from the city because its current proximity has deterred the development of high-rise buildings in the city centre.

Promote the city as a food haven and international tourist destination, with direct air links to cities like Singapore and Hong Kong. The dynamics of such cities will be able to assist Ipoh in becoming a world-class city.

More tourism projects should be planned for the city. The current project by Sunway City Ipoh in developing an international spa resort is a step in the right direction.

The glory days of Ipoh will not return if the present administration has no ambitions to pay special attention the city. Much more need to be done rather than hanging up stylish slogans around the city.

We hope that the present mentri besar will make sure that developing the city and state is his top priority.