As the New Straits Times today succintly put it, "[t]he long suffering people of Penang, held ransom by taxi drivers and poor bus service, will get an alternative — the monorail.", the monorail and the second bridge project have certainly been overdue.
A businessman, Swaran Singh, told the New Straits Times that the "people have been tolerating on the traffic jams on the existing Penang bridge for the last ten years".
All point to the same direction, the governments have been slow to response to the needs of the people in Penang.
As usual, we will see that soon after the Prime Minister is highly praised for his vision on the Penang development, the Gerakan will launch a campaign to praise its state government led by Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon for bringing development to Penang.
This is imperative for the Gerakan. Koh Tsu Koon's 16-year record as Chief Minister for Penang since 1990 has been dismal compared to his predecessor, Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu.
Chong Eu was proclaimed the leader who had brought new lease of life to Penang by bringing in the electronic industry after Penang lost its status as the free port in the 1970s'. The Komtar skyscraper and the Penang bridge have been known as the landmarks for Chong Eu's contribution to the state. They were the contents and missions of the Gerakan's election manifesto accomplished.
The subsequent question is: what has Tsu Koon done for Penang for the past 16 years?
Tsu Koon or the Gerakan did not pledge anything concrete to the people in the past election since 1990. As such, they did not achieve anything concrete.
The Gerakan has to rely heavily on the monorail and the second bridge to boost Tsu Koon's image in Penang not only because Tsu Koon needs to be seen to go over to the federal cabinet with a big bang after Keng Yaik's retirement but more importantly both the projects will help the Gerakan retain its power in Penang considering the poor performance the Gerakan has in Penang under Tsu Koon's leadership.
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3 comments:
Wah!! Cool blog. Nice to read but like that cannot kena ISA one meh?
I totally agree with this article. Nothing has been accomplished by Tsu Koon - the Penangites traitor, for the past 16 years. Penang is still as dirty as it used to be, flood happens whenever sky rains, no propper city planning, no new industry coming in to the states....and many many more.....
What Gerakan or Tsu koon have been doing all the time are attending opening ceremonies of shops and complexes, attending religous activities, attending funerals...and stuff like that. I am not syaing politician should attend those functions, but seems like gerakan or Tsu Koon especially, ONLY concentrating on those functions.
The dilemma of Chinese in Penang is that they have no choice but to vote Gerakan in order to keep the Chinese Chief Minister. As a result, opposition parties will never get support from Chinese community in Penang for the State assembly seat.
Tsu Koon is a shame of Chinese and Chung Ling. I am a student from Chung Ling, but whenever I said something bad about Tsu Koon, friends were suprised that I do not support Tsu Koon as we were from the same school. Many Chung Ling alumni just support him because he is from Chung Ling, this is really a shame to Chung Ling. This strongly shows that majority of the students from Chung
Ling do not know to judge or choose a good leader.
Honestly, Penang is on the dooming path. The tourism industry is declining, the MNC investment in Bayan Lepas is kind of stagnant and shrinking.......Although the state government keep publishing unreliable statistics and results showing how well the state is doing.
It is really sad to see how the island that once is known "The Pearl of Orient" is loosing its attractive brightness and vanishing soon.....
It wont change anything no matter who is leading. Unless citizens really conscious and aware of their rights to make things change better.
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