‘Sabah has more bargaining chips than Penang’
Sabah lost its 'greatest' opportunity to strike out on its own in 1985 when PBS toppled the then Berjaya government, says Penang CM.
KOTA KINABALU May 30, 2012: Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng’s advise to Sabahans is simply this: “politics is politics but for the federal government money still talks.”
He said knowing this reality had helped him impress upon former Prime Minister (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) that Penang was an important state for Malaysia due to its contribution to the nation’s economy, especially in terms of tax receipts.
Likewise Sabahans, he added should realise that they too have ‘bargaining chips’.
“Politics is politics but for the federal government money still talks and it would not want Malaysia to lose its foreign direct investments.
“(But) that is Penang..but for Sabah you have more bargaining chips.
“Tell them (the federal government) that if Sabah fails, then Malaysia will fail too,” he told a forum on “Penang Economic Experience to Sabah” held here.
Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general, said that when he took over as the CM of Penang, the state government had an independent audit conducted by international audit firms to find out where things had gone wrong in the past.
He had used the result of the audit to chart the island’s development.
Sabah, he said, lost a ‘great’ opportunity to develop independently in 1985 when the mighty Berjaya government was toppled by Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) led by Joseph Pairin Kitingan who is now the deputy chief minister in the Umno-led Barisan Nasional government.
Lim said had he been CM of Sabah then, the first thing that he would have looked into was weeding out corruption and improving the integrity of the government.
“When the people trust and believe in you, it works wonders,” he said in response to a question on what he would have done had he been the Chief Minister of Sabah in 1985.
‘Performance counts’
Touching on the perennial illegal immigrants issue in Sabah, Lim opined that it would be too late for the state government to take action on those who are already in the state, as it is beyond its jurisdiction.
“It needs federal power….. (but) the (state) government in those days is equally responsible for the illegal immigrant influx because you have immigration power but it was not imposed,” he said.
He also responded to a question from former state secretary Simon Sipaun on how he addressed the issue of non-cooperative civil servants “who are perceived to be loyal to the federal government.”
Lim admitted that the Penang Pakatan Rakyat government was facing problem with its federal-appointed state secreatry who refused to release development fund.
“They are not elected but they act like (a) colonial warlord,” he said.
He nonetheless noted that in Penang, a line had been drawn because the Pakatan Rakyat state government had a two-thirds majority.
“If you push us too far we’ll amend the state constitution. In Penang, performance counts,” he said.
Lim also asserted that once the people decided to change, it would be difficult for anybody to stop them.
Among the more than 100 people at the forum were Sabah DAP chief cum Sri Tanjung assemblyman, Jimmy Wong, Kota Kinabalu MP Hiew King Cheu and other state DAP leaders.
The forum held at Pacific Sutera Hotel here was organised by Topinai Strategic Research Centre and moderated by former Sabah Bank chief executive officer, John Lo.
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