Despite Pakatan Rakyat increasing its popular vote in Penang, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has conceded that the coalition still struggled to win over voters in Balik Pulau, the only Malay belt on Penang Island.

During his speech at the investiture ceremony in Penang today, Lim said Pakatan secured 10 percent more in terms of popular vote and won an additional state assembly seat, bringing the total number to 40.

"At the same time, the drop in support in Balik Pulau is a sign of (our) weakness that needs to be addressed and that the administration level needs to be strengthened.

"Ideally, a crisis of confidence on public institutions must be addressed and transformation efforts to provide the best services for the rakyat must be carried out to realise our vision of making Penang an international and smart state," Lim said.

BN won the Balik Pulau parliamentary seat, which spans the entire west coast of Penang Island, by increasing its votes by 42 percent and doubling its majority to 1,539 in the May 5 general election.

In 2008, Pakatan swept all seven parliamentary seats on the island and lost only two on the mainland.

Crime prevention

Meanwhile, Lim gave his assurance that the state would contribute to crime prevention efforts by increasing the number of CCTV units by 125, which will cost the state RM3 million.

Once the project is completed at the end of this year, there will be 229 CCTVs monitoring the streets in Penang, he said.

"All this while, the state has been cooperating with the police and providing trained personnel to monitor the CCTV system so that the police can concentrate on crime prevention," he said.

Efforts were also under way, Lim added, to train another 4,000 people for the volunteer patrol unit (PPS) to increase the number of personnel to 10,000, in order to help the police in their patrol rounds.