Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said that Umno is confident to recapture Penang because they sense complacency in Pakatan Rakyat.

Lim, the DAP secretary general, warned that time has come for Pakatan to view the Umno 3-3-3-1 threat seriously in a statement today.

He added that Umno's formula for winning Penang might work as the Penang Pakatan machinery was not in full election mode.

Lim said he will request all Pakatan parties to submit a full report on their election preparations and they should be gearing up for polls in November.

"(This is despite the fact that) Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is widely expected to call for elections next year." 

ahmad zahid hamidi The Penang CM was responding to a Bernama report which quoted Umno vice-president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi ( left ) as saying the 3-3-3-1 formula involved Umno, MCA and Gerakan adding three seats each and MIC one seat to the existing 11 state assembly seats in the coming polls.

Ahmad Zahid, who is defence minister, had also said a majority of one seat was enough for BN to form the government.

BN is working full time as the polls draw near to overturn its dismal 2008 results in Penang, where the coalition won just 11 of the 40 state assembly seats contested while DAP dominated with 19 seats, PKR nine and PAS one.

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Meanwhile, Lim said Umno's confidence is also based on an obedient tool in the Election Commision and control of the mainstream media to spread lies against Pakatan.

He added that the manipulation of the EC for BN's own political interests is well-recorded with top officials recently exposed as Umno members.

"BN's control of the media has resulted not only in a refusal to highlight Pakatan's successes in governance but also in sustained personal attacks against state Penang leaders recently," said Lim.

"The attacks are based on racism, outright lies of corruption and allegations of sexual misconduct. Even my own family members such as my underaged son, has not been spared from such vicious lies," he added.

Lim said what was worse was that the mainstream media continues to repeat the lies ad nauseam even when they are made by minor underlings of BN Youth parties who receive even wider coverage than a chief minister.

Replies by Pakatan leaders are given limited coverage or sometimes not even published at all, lamented Lim.