Pak Lah At It Again

On the day before elections was held, the honourable Prime Minister threatened the Chinese community that if we voted opposition, Chinese representation will be reduced in the Cabinet and as a result, Chinese interest will not be taken cared of by the Government.

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi reminded the Chinese community that if they gave the DAP their votes, they will end up not having any representation in the Government.

“You have to decide if you want a louder voice in Parliament or representation in the Cabinet where they can be more effective in representing all communities,” the Barisan Nasional chairman said.

He said if the Chinese did not have representation in the Cabinet, their requests would not be heard.

The statement was deplorable from the fact that some time ago, Pak Lah insisted that he was the Prime Minister of all Malaysians. It appears that he was deceiving Malaysians then for the above statement clearly showed that he's only looking after the interest of a certain race or community for he comes from UMNO.

Malaysians voted with couraged and was certainly not cowed by the threats made by the Pak Lah led government. However, like Ong Ka Ting, Pak Lah hasn't learnt the fact that he is meant to be a prime minister for all Malaysians, instead of just one race.

Today, again in The Star, Pak Lah warned Guan Eng, newly annointed Chief Minister for Penang over his proposed economic policies to take Penang forward.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng was warned by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi not to make statements that could stoke racial tensions.

“The (Penang) state government must not try to create an atmosphere which can cause racial tensions,” warned Abdullah, who is also head of Penang Umno.

He also said that the new state government in Penang should not marginalise the Malays, who are the minority in the state, and other minority groups like the Indians.

“Do not marginalise the Malays. I want to ask Lim Guan Eng what his plans are for the Malays in Penang What are his plans for the Indians in Penang? What are his plans for other minority groups in Penang?”

Should Pak Lah not be asking, what does DAP plan for Malaysians in Penang, instead of "Malays in Penang"?

Here's some excerpts of the speech by Guan Eng in Penang 2 days ago:

...we will run the government administration free from the New Economic Policy (NEP) that breeds cronyism, corruption and systemic inefficiency. We will implement an open tender system for all government procurement and contracts. We will also practice transparency by uploading information of such tender bids in an internet portal to be set up in future for public access.

Instead, we strongly advocate a stakeholders’ economy for all – irrespective of race and religions – and based on the principle of shared prosperity in an equitable manner.

[...]

We subscribe to Integrity and Transparency in our governance. Government procurement will only be awarded through open tender, and priority will be given to Penang-incorporated contractors. An online portal will be set up to publish the list of qualified contractors, and the tendering process and relevant details, for public scrutiny.

Similarly, the Chief Minister, State EXCO members, Speaker and Deputy Speaker together with the respective heads of Majlis Perbandaran Pulau Pinang and Majlis Perbandaran Seberang Jaya will be required to publicly declare their personal assets.

Now, which bits of the above policies seek to marginalise any particular community in Penang? PKR, our coalition partner in Penang, has also been calling for NEP to be replaced for the past 2 years or so, are they also marginalising Malays?

Who exactly then, is desperately stoking "racial tensions"?