'Guan Eng a control freak, publicity crazy'
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has to do more to debunk the belief that he is the sole representative of the state government.
His opponents call him a dictator, bent on overshadowing his colleagues and comrades in Pakatan Rakyat, be it at the state executive council or within the ruling coalition.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has to do more to debunk the belief that he is the sole representative of the state government.
His opponents call him a dictator, bent on overshadowing his colleagues and comrades in Pakatan Rakyat, be it at the state executive council or within the ruling coalition.
Penang Gerakan chief Dr Teng Hock Nan, who has been targeting Lim (left) since the 2008 political tsunami, continues to blame the DAP secretary-general for the state's failure to effect change, despite having three whole years to work things out.
Teng, a former state exco member, said Lim had ‘total control' over the administration, since he did not decentralise the administration's decision-making process to the other executive committee members.
"Even the two local councils - MPPP (Penang) and MPSP (Seberang Perai) - are fully controlled," said the former Kebun Bunga assemblyperson.
"He overshadows the two council chairpersons by, for example, announcing stop work orders, a decision for the technical departments to make," Teng said.
"It will be more efficient to centralise power, but those sectors that receive less attention from him will suffer... it can be quite dangerous to place so much power in one man's hands," he stressed.
'It's a one-man show'
Teng said Lim maintained his ‘one man show' by putting a big effort in publicity campaigns (for his work) and neglecting other more important tasks.
For example, Lim distributes RM100 and RM1,000 each respectively, to senior citizens and to beneficiaries upon the death of their parents. This seems to be the most successful policy of the state government, so far.
However, the long-term problems affecting Penangites, such as traffic congestion, housing and investment, have been largely ignored, Teng (right) said, adding that Gerakan could benefit from this situation.
Lim's political secretary and Komtar assemblyperson Ng Wei Aik has rubbished these allegations, saying Lim was too busy to intervene in other people's territories.
It is believed that Malay support for the state government has somewhat waned due to various controversies raised about Lim.
Lim has been accused of, among other things, neglecting the Malay community; getting mosques to use his name in Friday sermons instead of the King's; of trying to ban Prophet Muhammad's birthday procession; and of disrespecting Islam by getting involved in religious rituals such as butchering a cow in a mosque compound.
However, Teng is uncertain if similar sentiments exist among the non-Muslim community.
Penang MCA secretary Lau Chiek Tuan said Chinese community support for his party has been increasingly better since March 2008.
At that point in history, the voters did not even want to listen to MCA, Lau said, adding that the party did not want to be too ambitious to think that it would be victorious in all the seats it plans to contest in the coming general election.
The MCA lost all 10 state seats it contested in Penang in 2008.
State MIC chairperson PK Subbaiyah said Lim has been spending a lot of time to malign the previous government.
"He should concentrate on how to improve the lives of Penangites instead, and come up with concrete projects and policies," added Subbaiyah, who also remains confident of a much better BN performance in the next general election.
