The DAP-led Penang government was called as ‘a hypocrite’ and taken to task for wasting public funds by publishing a state magazine - called Suara Rakyat - allegedly to serve its own political agenda.

The opposition Barisan Nasional blasted the initiative - launched at the state assembly today ( below ) by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng - saying it was against ‘the state government’s own promise to cut operational costs due to a lack of funds’.

State assembly opposition leader Azhar Ibrahim criticised the Penang’s government’s estimated budget of RM300,000 to publish three volumes of Suara Rakyat a year.

penang suara rakyat magazine 230708 lim guan eng.jpg "Isn’t this a waste of public funds?" he asked a news conference at the state assembly building lobby, adding that he would bring up the matter during the current sitting.

Some 20,000 copies of Suara Rakyat have been printed in Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and Tamil. The magazine contains articles and news reports on the state government’s activities.

The magazine, to be distributed free to public, is an integrated version of three separate periodicals published by the previous state government under chief minister Koh Tsu Koon.

When asked on these former three separate publications, Azhar replied the previous state government did not propagate cost-cutting measures just to gain political mileage.

He poked fun at Lim’s government for using public funds to garner political publicity while claiming that it would reduce costs by stopping unnecessary expenditure.

Soccer concern

Since coming to power on March 8, the Penang government has instructed all its officials to use only economy class flights and hotel accommodation when on official business outside the state.

The state government has also stopped funding the state’s tourism bimonthly periodical – IN Penang - which is distributed free at hotels, tourism spots and immigrations points to promote Penang tourism.

The budget for the magazine amounted to RM150,000 a year.

penang suara rakyat magazine 230708 azahar.jpg State executive councillor Danny Law Heng Kiang said the funding was stopped to encourage IN Penang to support its own operations by generating income from advertising.

Azhar ( left ) said IN Penang was a more important magazine than Suara Rakyat as the former would help promote and market Penang’s tourism sector especially now since Georgetown has gained Unesco’s Global Heritage Site recognition.

The state government, he added, should also have diverted the funds given to Suara Rakyat to the Football Association of Penang (FAP) which was financially strapped.

"By publishing Suara Rakyat in three languages and with massive funding, the state government has failed miserably to bring benefit to the people.

"It has spent public money on an non-beneficial project, forsaking the people’s interests.

"Is this what we call the ‘CAT’ government?" he asked, taking a swipe at the state government’s widely-propagated principles of competency, accountability and transparency (CAT).