Thursday June 18, 2009
Guan Eng-Tsu Koon spat goes to Singapore now
GEORGE TOWN: Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng took his spat with his predecessor Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon to Singapore as he and Gerakan leaders continued attacks on one another over Penang’s infrastructure.
Lim, who was on a two-day visit to the city state that ended on Tuesday, used financial figures to strengthen his claim that Penang had been in a “graceful decline” over the last 18 years.
“The Ninth Malaysia Plan reveals that Penang family incomes increased the least among all the states, including Sabah and Sarawak, over the last 10 years.
“Between 1999 and 2004, Penang family incomes grew 2.5% annually while the average for the country was 6.6%.
“In 1999, our income was 85% of what Selangor residents were making but five years after that, in 2004, we are only 68% as rich as those in the Klang Valley,” Lim said in a speech at a reunion dinner for Penang Free School and Chung Ling Old Boys Association dinner in Singapore.
Lim has been engaged in a verbal spat with Dr Koh, who helmed Penang for 18 years since 1990, over alleged comments by Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew that Penang’s infrastructure was “inferior to Ipoh and Seremban”.
At a press conference here, state Gerakan Wanita chief Ng Siew Lai said Lim has misled the public into believing that there was little progress in Penang over the past two decades.
Ng said according to Lee’s press secretary quoted by Channel News Asia, Lee had only asked the state government to improve the existing infrastructure and communications network in order to attract more foreign investors.
“He has misled the people. We, the state Gerakan Wanita and Youth urge Lim to correct his misleading statement, and we demand an explanation from him,” she said. Also present was state Gerakan Youth chief Oh Tong Keong.
Guan Eng-Tsu Koon spat goes to Singapore now
GEORGE TOWN: Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng took his spat with his predecessor Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon to Singapore as he and Gerakan leaders continued attacks on one another over Penang’s infrastructure.
Lim, who was on a two-day visit to the city state that ended on Tuesday, used financial figures to strengthen his claim that Penang had been in a “graceful decline” over the last 18 years.
“The Ninth Malaysia Plan reveals that Penang family incomes increased the least among all the states, including Sabah and Sarawak, over the last 10 years.
“Between 1999 and 2004, Penang family incomes grew 2.5% annually while the average for the country was 6.6%.
“In 1999, our income was 85% of what Selangor residents were making but five years after that, in 2004, we are only 68% as rich as those in the Klang Valley,” Lim said in a speech at a reunion dinner for Penang Free School and Chung Ling Old Boys Association dinner in Singapore.
Lim has been engaged in a verbal spat with Dr Koh, who helmed Penang for 18 years since 1990, over alleged comments by Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew that Penang’s infrastructure was “inferior to Ipoh and Seremban”.
At a press conference here, state Gerakan Wanita chief Ng Siew Lai said Lim has misled the public into believing that there was little progress in Penang over the past two decades.
Ng said according to Lee’s press secretary quoted by Channel News Asia, Lee had only asked the state government to improve the existing infrastructure and communications network in order to attract more foreign investors.
“He has misled the people. We, the state Gerakan Wanita and Youth urge Lim to correct his misleading statement, and we demand an explanation from him,” she said. Also present was state Gerakan Youth chief Oh Tong Keong.
