Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng quipped over the weekend in Kota Kinabalu that he “almost fainted’ shortly after assuming office in March when Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi warned him “not to play with fire” after he introduced the open tender system for state government contracts.

According to Abdullah, also from Penang, the open tender system “was not fair”.

lim guan eng penang 161208 “How could the open system not be fair when the whole world is practicing it? In some countries, it is even a jailable offence for not practicing the open tender system but here, in Malaysia, it is just the opposite,” said Lim, who graced the DAP party conventions in both Kota Kinabalu and Kuching.

“However, despite all the pressures including public demonstrations (by Umno members), we proceeded to implement the open tender system as we sincerely believe that it is the right thing to do in the best interest of the people.

“Now even the federal government is emulating the Penang state government. This shows that we have done the right thing.

“They have applied the open tender system for the second Penang Bridge. Before this they applied the closed tender system and awarded it to UEM (United Engineers Malaysia). UEM is screaming (their heads off) now because the price is so low.”

‘They thought tomorrow would never come’

The subject of money dominated much of the Penang chief minister’s talk at the Kota Kinabalu DAP convention.

Ten months after assuming office, Lim has since unraveled the extent of corruption practiced by the previous Gerakan-led BN government.

“They thought tomorrow would never come,” said Lim, who didn’t go into specifics.

“In two years’ time, everyone will have free access to WiFi whereas the federal government spent RM11.3 billion just to implement the broadband project. People are wondering how we can afford it. That’s because we don’t subscribe to corrupt practices.”

Lim received a standing ovation and thunderous applause when he pledged a corruption-free Penang state government.

“Public expenditure must be fully maximised. I cannot understand when we talk about spending public money, that is, when you spend RM1,000 to get RM 300. What kind of nonsense is that?” he asked.

“Why can’t we get the full amount for every single sen we spend?”

The Penang government, like the other Pakatan Rakyat-run state governments, is against the idea of the private sector making “obscene and indecent profits”, said Lim, citing the 17 to 18 percent per annum profits presently enjoyed by the IPPs (independent power producers) as an example.

“Tenaga Nasional is paying RM4 billion a year to the IPPs for power that they do not need,” alleged Lim. “It just doesn’t make sense at all.”

Stimulus package ‘too little, too late’

Elsewhere in his talk, he touched on the RM50 billion economic stimulus package proposed by Pakatan Rakyat against the BN’s RM7 billion, which he described as too little, too late.

Lim, a trained accountant, also spoke on Bank Negara’s substantial but declining international reserves, the inflow of international investments into Penang vis-a-vis other parts of Malaysia and the federal government’s RM4 billion in funding promises to Sabah - RM1 billion in May and RM3 billion in September - which are yet to materialise.

“Sabah is yet to receive even a sen of these promised billions,” charged Lim. “Instead of giving to Sabah BN leaders, it’s better to give to the people directly. This is what the federal government should do.”

He urged Sabah to re-think its growth and development model and pointed out that Penang has so far attracted RM8 billion in new investments since March this year compared with RM4.7 billion last year.

Lim noted that Sabah had only drawn RM850 million in new investments for the first nine months of the year compared with RM3.3 billion for the same period last year.