Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has turned the table on Prime Minister Najib Razak by asking him to apologise over his apparent flip-flop on his announcement to abolish bumiputera quotas earlier this week.

NONE Najib had yesterday clarified that he did not tell an economic forum on Tuesday that bumiputera quotas would be abolished, contrary to what has been was widely reported by the media.

He told journalists at a press conference after an Umno supreme council meeting that bumiputera quotas will stay, but had instead asked bumiputera entrepreneurs not be too dependent on government help.

"Will Najib apologise over the flip-flop whether he is going to abolish bumi quotas or ask the press to correct their false reporting?" asked Lim in a press statement today.

Lim himself had yesterday apologised to the Johor sultan for disparaging his state over its high crime rate at a function in Singapore.

najib umno post mt meeting pc 300911 According to Lim, the prime minister was reported by Malaysiakini on Sept 27 and in Bernama on Sept 28 that there was a need to "run or go away" from quotas for bumiputeras.

"Since Bernama had reported on the need to "run or go away" from bumi quotas, will action then be taken against Bernama or any other BN-controlled paper for false reporting?

"As it is hard to imagine a government news department like Bernama daring to misquote or misrepresent what the prime minister said, will the prime minister be compelled to apologise for saying the wrong thing?"

Open-tender system saves money

Lim said that Penang's adoption of an open-tender system has led to record budget surpluses, the top investment destination in Malaysia for 2010 and won praise from Transparency International.

"Failure to fully and comprehensively implement open tenders has led to scepticism amongst many investors of the seriousness of Najib in implementing the New Economic Model.

"Open tenders can lead not only to record budget surpluses by cutting down costs but also help to cut down corruption."

The Penang CM contended that Malaysia can do better, especially when at least RM28 billion have been lost annually from waste and corruption.

"In fact the Global Financial Integrity Report ... gave an even more horrifying estimate of RM888 billion of ‘illicit money' (black money) secretly taken out of the country over a nine-year period."