Deepavali marred by rising costs, racism and lies about Penang, says Guan Eng
Deepavali celebration this year has been marred by the shortage of cooking oil caused by the removal of subsidy, says Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
"Cooking oil prices will rise just like other basic commodities and services such as toll rates," he said in his Deepavali message today.
Lim said the country's promise of economic prosperity of ordinary Malaysians has been hijacked by the RM52 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion donation scandals.
Deepavali celebration this year has been marred by the shortage of cooking oil caused by the removal of subsidy, says Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
"Cooking oil prices will rise just like other basic commodities and services such as toll rates," he said in his Deepavali message today.
Lim said the country's promise of economic prosperity of ordinary Malaysians has been hijacked by the RM52 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion donation scandals.
He also blamed the federal government's imposition of the burdensome goods and services tax as one of the factors affecting the celebrations this year.
"However, these facts have been covered up not just by acts of racism and religious extremism but also with lies of economic non-performance against the Penang government," Lim claimed.
He denied that investors have fled or reduced their investments in Penang.
He produced a table showing the comparative eight-year period from 2008-2015 compared to 2000-2007, where Penang’s manufacturing investment increased by 87 percent to RM54.9 billion from RM24.9 billion.
Job creation also increased by 17 percent to 128,317 from 106,583 job opportunities, he pointed out.
He said the unemployment rate for Penang is one of the lowest in the country at 1.6 percent, creating a shortage of 20,000 workers.
Lim said tourism had also seen an increase with the Penang International Airport reaching capacity of 6.5 million passengers four years ahead of the scheduled 2020.
"This success is reflected in the growth rate of per capita GDP, the highest in the country in 2015," Lim said.
He reiterated in the year 2007, Penang was the bottom state in recording the lowest percentage growth in per capita GDP.
"After eight painful years to turn things around, we managed to redeem our shame in 2015, when Penang finally succeeded in topping the country as national champion with the highest percentage growth in per capita GDP," Lim said.
"Penang took longer than expected (8 years) to turn things around.
"However, this is to be expected because once you reach rock bottom, it is not easy to quickly become top," he added.
