Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan
KOTA KINABALU: The declaration of assets by Penang state excos does not mean that the state government is transparent, said Sabah BN secretary Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan.
And if Sabah DAP vice chairman Edward Mujie thinks the Penang state government is transparent just because their excos have declared their assets, he must be kidding himself, said Abdul Rahman who is also Kota Belud member of parliament.
“Yes, Lim Guan Eng and Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim both introduced declaration of assets in their respective states but their policy is nothing but half-baked attempt and mere political rhetoric.
“Maybe Mujie had not taken a closer look at the details of the asset declarations. Let’s take for example Selangor state government’s declaration of assets for its excos. They would like you to believe that Selangor excos would list out their assets.
“In reality, they only declared how much are their salaries and income as state excos but no mention of their assets at all! It is public declaration of assets, minus the assets!” he said.
Abdul Rahman who was responding to Mujie’s statement published in a local daily yesterday claimed that in Penang, people wonder why Guan Eng only asked his state excos, including himself, to declare assets but no declaration is needed if the assets are kept under the names of their immediate families such as their wives and children.
“Tell me is that really transparency which Mujie tried so hard to make us believe? DAP Penang should make it compulsory for even the excos’ wives and their children to declare their assets. Mujie also paid glowing compliment to Guan Eng’s ability to eliminate Penang government’s debt and balance its books within a few years of being Chief Minister of Penang.
“I would be the first to congratulate the Chief Minister if this was due to his economic policy. But the fact is, it was not,” he said and disclosed that the debt was eliminated when the federal government agreed to take over the debts following the water rationalisation programme in Penang.
It was not due to Guan Eng’s ‘Guanomics’, a term making waves in the cyber world, poking fun at the Chief Minister’s penchant to exaggerate his economic accomplishments, he said adding that without the federal government’s agreement to assume the debts, they would still be in Penang’s books.
Mujie should say thank you to the Prime Minister instead, he opined.
Mujie also prefered to pay tribute to Pakatan’s states’ economic record, refusing to accept what Sabah has accomplished so far, he said, and pointed out that Mujie has refused to acknowledge that Sabah has been showered with compliments both by national and international bodies.
Sabah’s financial management has consistently obtained the highest rating from the Auditor General for the last 11 years and Sabah recorded the highest state budget allocation ever in its history when Chief Minister cum Finance Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman announced the state budget of more than RM4 billion for 2012, he said.
This, Abdul Rahman added, is in addition to the highest ever state reserves of RM3.3 billion in 2010 and revenue of RM3.7 billion.
“I urge Mujie to take those numbers and compare them with the performance of DAP-led government in Penang and PKR-led government in Selangor. Maybe by then he will appreciate what Sabah has done so far when he realises that Penang’s 2012 state budget was only around RM750 million, revenue RM386 million and its reserves standing at only RM572 million.
“In Selangor, the so-called crown jewel of Pakatan states, its 2012 state budget was a mere RM1.6 billion with reserves of only RM1.2 billion. Even local and international rating agencies like RAM and Moody’s accorded top ratings to Sabah government’s finances.
“On the development in Sabah which Mujie has criticised as wanting, I would like to invite him to go to the Sabah Archives and Museum and compare what Sabah’s development landscape in the 50s and 60s were compared to now,” he said.
He also urged Mujie not to just compare Kota Kinabalu or Sandakan photos then and now, but compare also rural areas like Keningau, Ranau and Kota Belud.
“I am sure he will be surprised with how far we all have gone and stop his penchant of taking a slice of Sabah’s poverty and then use that to condemn BN’s policies. That is tantamount to being ignorant and nescient,” he said.
According to him, both BN and DAP/Pakatan acknowledge there is poverty in Sabah. The difference is BN has specific programmes and policies, made known to the public, to fight it.
“What about DAP/Pakatan? Where is their specific poverty eradication program? Mere mentioning of their willingness to eradicate poverty in a few paragraphs in ‘Buku Jingga’ won’t cut it,” Abdul Rahman added.
He also was of the opinion that Mujie should tell Sabahans what specific programmes they have which are different from BN’s.
So far, Sabahans only hear endless rhetorics from DAP, he said adding, “on Mujie’s dare for me to declare assets, as a member of MACC’s Special Committee on Anti-Corruption, the King who appointed me, must have been briefed thoroughly by MACC of my background.
“Unlike members of the cabinet, at the moment there is no directive or law which requires ordinary MPs to declare their assets. That is why PKR’s Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Azmin Ali, APS’ Datuk Wilfred Bumburing, PAS’ Datuk Kamaruddin Jaafar and the famous cousins in DAP, Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham and Nga Kor Ming do not have to declare their assets.
“But if Mujie really insists on the declaration of assets of MPs, then I suggest, for the sake of transparency and not cheap political gimmickry, he should insist all of us do it. I am all for it. But will he dare to ask Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the DAP cousins?” he said.