Now that Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon has been sworn in as Chief Minister, to be assisted by two Deputy Chief Ministers, it is time he resolve the many problems afflicting the Penang state, whether the perennial floods, traffic congestion, degradation of the state infrastructure, the failure to improve the quality of life of Penangites, the lack of accountability and transparency of the two Municipal Councils and getting the Federal Government to extend the rent decontrol process by three to five years to minimise the socio-economic hardships of the affected tenants in the state.
During the tenth general election campaign, the theme of the Barisan Nasional election manifesto was "Free, United and Successful". However, in less than three days of the Barisan Nasional election victory on Nov. 29, 1999, the mass resignations from Gerakan, including two recently re-elected State Assemblymen Lim Boo Chang and Lim Chien Aun and the former Deputy Minister, Dr. Goh Cheng Teik, have exposed the hollow nature of the Barisan Nasional’s "Free, United and Successful" theme.
The DAP has suffered a great setback in the recent general election as a result of the dirtiest election campaign conducted by the Barisan Nasional in the nation’s history.
The DAP Central Executive Committee has set up a five-man 1999 General Election Post-Mortem Committee, headed by DAP Deputy Secretary M. Kulasegaran.
Every DAP State should conduct its own separate election post-mortem, inviting the views not only of DAP candidates, leaders and members, but also supporters and members of the public so that the party can formulate a new strategy to learn from all the mistakes made in the last election campaign.
(5/12/99)