BN turns open house into partisan affray

The BN open house for Chinese New Year in Penang today, with Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and federal cabinet minister Koh Tsu Koon in attendance as hosts, turned out to be a mortifying experience to some guests, notably Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

The practice of one-upmanship, nominally confined to out-and-out political occasions, was on uncomfortable display, with Gerakan president Koh leading the way and Muhyiddin following suit.

Guan Eng and a slew of Pakatan Rakyat reps and their aides attended the function for reason of their being invited.

As on Friday, when both Koh and Guan Eng were guests of the Penang Chinese Town Hall at their open house at the same venue - the PCTH building in Jalan Masjid Kapitan Kling - Koh could not resist the temptation to score political points.

On that occasion, he has lauded federal-Penang state relations as having brought much benefit to the people of Penang during the time when Gerakan helmed the administration (1969-2008).

Today, at the BN open house, Koh spoke first and quickly shifted into political gear by telling the crowd that Penang's current prosperity was due to the groundwork done by the previous Gerakan-led administration.

If he had kept to the tenor of generalized observations only, his preference for mildly political speech on an occasion when the guest list included oppositionists would not have mattered.

But when he sallied forth into openly partisan turf, the incursion raised doubts about his judgment of the verbal proprieties on the occasion.

Koh told the crowd that it was not true, as Guan Eng had claimed, that Penang were tops in medical tourism only now; the former chief minister claimed the top billing was achieved as early as 1995.

"The state's lead in medical tourism is due to the effort that was made in past years," said Koh.

He claimed he and former Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi had gone to Indonesia to secure for their citizens wanting to come to Penang for medical treatment exemption from the country's exit tax.

"We laid the groundwork for the current good fortune of Penang," said Koh.

DPM joins in one-upmanship

As if this mode of one-upmanship wasn't grating enough, DPM Muhyiddin (right), when it came time for him to speak, waded unabashedly into political waters - with an edge that was faintly sinister.

He said the state government had no choice but to cooperate with the federal authorities.

"They have no choice but to do so," he averred.

About hawkers' licences, a subject of some controversy in Penang, Muhyiddin asked petty traders to demand them from the chief minister.

At that stage, the lurch into crass political partisanship, begun by Koh and accelerated by Muhyiddin, was off-putting enough to cause the small Pakatan Rakyat complement to the audience to slink away into the adjoining street, except for Guan Eng.

For propriety's sake, he had to be stoic till the end.

Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/155337

seals: It would not even take a fool to believe it ...

"Penang's current prosperity was due to the groundwork done by the previous Gerakan-led administration."

So BN/Gerakan as beed doing just ground work for 39 years and did not should any results? This is poor leadership a leader who could not show results but keep doing "ground work" for 39 years ....and YES I AGREE WITH YOU Koh, it take a good leader to show results .... and the leader who did it was Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

I have seen too BN always say "you vote me I solve your problem" or "I know the problem faced by the people in this area, vote me and i will solve it for you"

Note: the previous MP / DUN was a BN person too...so that past BN Member failed to address the peoples problem? Why should the people someone from the same party now?

So I propose a 2 party system for every MP to be a leader who can deliver for people!