Concerned with Malaysia's declining financial position, especially the added burden on the poor, DAP has urged Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to urgently address five economic areas which it said will redress the situation.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said these "priority" areas were rising fuel prices, holding government linked corporations accountable, corruption, the decline of foreign direct investments and the need to ensure citizens enjoy benefits of the economic growth.

"The recent five sen increase in fuel prices has resulted in higher cost of transport and goods. DAP acknowledges that at present fuel prices, the government's fuel subsidies would rise to more than RM12 billion and is inefficient and not sustainable in the long run," he added.

Lim said this at the party's Johor state convention yesterday. A copy of the speech was made available to malaysiakini.

Earlier this month local petrol prices were increased to RM1.42 per litre for premium grade (RON97) and RM1.38 for regular grade (RON92).

Petronas earnings

The DAP leader also took the government to task for not being transparent over Malaysia's gain from the global fuel price increase - being an oil exporter - and earnings of Petronas, the national gas and oil producer.

"The refusal to reveal how much Petronas earns or how its earnings are utilised have only given rise to suspicions that (the) earnings are used to bail-out multi-billion ringgit financial scandals," he added.

He urged the provision of direct benefits for the people - with lower fuel prices - "which Petronas can afford to on behalf of the government".

"Petronas will contribute more than 20 percent of the projected revenue of RM99.1 billion next year. For the year 2005, petroleum is expected to contribute RM24,123 million to revenue," he said.

He said Petronas can afford to absorb the RM12 billion fuel subsidies required to maintain fuel prices and that the money would be better spent on 23 million "ordinary Malaysians" as opposed to Barisan National cronies when bailing them out of financial scandals.

Lim placed the interest of Malaysians as top priority again when he asked the government to "distribute and spread" benefits of the second quarter eight percent economic growth.

He said DAP has received many grouses from business people and workers who do not enjoy any rewards from the growth and have in fact experienced a sharp decline in their revenue.

"DAP does not dispute the economic growth figures but wants the government to realise that such growth is limited to industries and sectors that do not impact on ordinary Malaysians," he added.

He referred to the Finance Ministry's 2004/2005 economic report which stated that the manufacturing and services sectors were expected to be major contributors to the economic growth while the construction sector - with its benefits to locals - contributed nothing.

"The government should assist the construction sector by ensuring government contracts are spread to many not just the few contractors (and) to open it up to non-bumiputera contractors," he urged.

Accountability needed

The third key area, Lim said, is the need to hold accountable government-linked companies (GLCs) for its less-than-desirable performances.

"GLCs such as Telekom and Tenaga Nasional require a complete review and overhaul," he said while questioning the Energy, Water and Communications Minister's (Dr Lim Keng Yaik, photo ) refusal to explain the 90 percent drop in the companies' return of investment to the government.

The companies were initially estimated to contribute close to RM100 million each to revenue before this was revised to less than RM10 million each.

"Such low rates of return are just unacceptable when Telekom has the second largest market capitalisation in the KLSE (Malaysian stock exchange) and Tenaga the third as at Aug 30," he noted.

He said that the people have a right to know why the two companies were "so badly managed".

Malaysia's drop from 37th to 39th place in the recent Transparency International Corruption Perception Index 2004 was not spared DAP's scrutiny.

"(This) has created shock and disappointment. Instead of registering an improvement, Malaysia's position dropped. Malaysia barely passed the corruption test garnering only five points out of 10," he said.

Commenting on the index, the prime minister was reported to have said yesterday that the outcome was unfair as there are sufficient laws in Malaysia to fight corruption.

Lim however listed down numerous government project scandals of late such as the Sultan Ismail Hospital in Johor, the Middle Ring Road 2 flyover closure, the North-South highway mudslide and the non-completion of the Matrade building , that has created the "negative perceptions".

"Malaysia's international image became a joke when Works Minister S Samy Vellu said that the seriousness of the flaws that cause a new hospital to close down were 'normal in big projects'...," he said.

He urged the government to expedite efforts to correct the negative perceptions by acting against errant contractors.

Lim also provided a comprehensive table by the United Nations which contained figures showing Malaysia's seventh placing in Asia's top recipients of foreign direct investment (FDI).

"Malaysia's FDI inflows declined from US$3.2 billion in 2002 to US$2.5 billion in 2003. During the same period, Singapore's FDI doubled to USD11.4 billion," he noted adding that there is a need to study and identify reason behind the decline.