Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has pledged to bring the AES to the people of Penang - but not the dreaded Automatic Enforcement System.

Instead, Lim said, Penang's budget for next year would be dubbed "AES", which stands for "Agenda Ekonomi Saksama" (Just Economic Agenda).

azlan "The (traffic) AES is not in the interest of Malaysians because it is structured to profit the private companies involved.

"What we want is not an Automatic Enforcement System. We want Agenda Ekonomi Saksama. That is the difference between BN's AES and Pakatan Rakyat's AES," he said when opening a forum on the budget in Kuala Lumpur last night.

Lim said the AES budget, to be tabled in the Penang state legislative assembly on Nov 2, would be geared towards addressing inequality.

The government has earned flak for the new traffic system to catch speedsters as the two private companies - Beta Tegap Sdn Bhd and ATES Sdn Bhd - that are setting up the system are entitled to a cut from the summonses collected.

Lim announced last Tuesday that the two local councils in the state had been instructed to suspend the implementation of the system pending a study. Kedah followed suit three days later.

'Addressing inequality is Pakatan's priority'

He told the budget forum that addressing inequality, especially assisting the needy, was a priority for Pakatan.

He also deflected accusations that the Penang government had failed to build any low-cost housing to cater for low-income group.

azlan "Since 2008, we have constructed 4,000 low-cost housing units and we will be building 18,000 more.

"Of course the state did not build them directly. These were built by the Penang Development Corporation, which is 100 percent owned by the state government," Lim said.

"This was no different from the federal government, which constructed housing units under Syarikat Perumahan Negara Bhd (SPNB)."

Lim said Pakatan Rakyat's shadow budget had also addressed inequalities by focusing on three thrusts.

These are breaking up monopolies in favour of competition, targeting critical groups (the poor, young and women) and combating corruption.

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