“It’s time for DAP to stop acting badly towards the government who is helping the people and stop heating up the old argument that the Federal government are not helping Penang”
KUALA LUMPUR: As the general election looms nearer, DAP should rethink the blame they assign to others and be humble enough to give credit when due.
Gerakan vice-president Datuk Dr Dominic Lau said the DAP-led Penang government – despite its leaders always running down the Federal government – would not hesitate to turn to the ones they despise for aid.
“But when it all goes wrong in society – be it excess, corruption, waste, fraud, and abuse – the Federal government gets the blame.
“There are bound to be disagreements and issues, but the key to making life go on is the ability to resolve the people’s problems,” he said in a statement today.
He said it is lamentable that Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had been unwilling to acknowledge that the state’s debt reduction is due to the Federal government.
Lim was previously reported by the press as saying that the Federal government would not be able to follow Penang’s footstep in reducing debt and achieving zero debt payment arrears.
Lim had boasted that Penang had reduced its state debts by 90 per cent to RM65mil by end 2016, which is the lowest among all states in the country.
Lim had also criticised the Federal government as having increased its debt from RM501.6bil in 2012 to RM648.47bil last year.
In response, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan explained that 95 per cent of the debt reduction was made possible by the Federal government via a water-restructuring agreement.
In the agreement, the Federal government converted RM655.24 million in water debt to 45 annual lease payments of RM14.56 million by the Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP).
Putrajaya had also agreed to give a RM1.2 billion grant to the state government to expand the Mengkuang Dam, and a “big proportion” of the funds had been disbursed to the state government.
“It’s time for DAP to stop acting badly towards the government who is helping the people and stop heating up the old argument that the Federal government are not helping Penang.
“When there are no backups and there are not yet any viable alternatives for the problems they faced, it is the federal government that stepped in,” said Lau.
He said the contributions by the federal government which made significant changes to the people are bigger and more substantial than DAP would be willing to admit.
Source: NST Online
