Pongal Festival Message By Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng In Kuala Lumpur On 14.1.2012
On behalf of the Penang State Government, I would like to wish all our Hindu friends a very auspicious and prosperous Pongal Festival.
The Pongal Festival was traditionally celebrated by farmers to give thanks for the harvest. Today, we share in the spirit of Pongal to celebrate the rakyat who work hard and with honesty to earn a living for their families.
To honour the honest rakyat who work hard day in and day out, it is our duty to provide good governance, accountability and transparency in administration. That is why the Penang State Government has taken the important step to publicly declare the assets of its EXCO members.
This public declaration of assets fulfils the personal obligation of PR leaders and proves the political commitment of the Penang PR State Government towards reinforcing leadership with integrity in line with the CAT principles of Competency, Accountability, Transparency.
It is unfortunate that the same commitment is not shown by the BN Government. Because of the financial shenanigans of the BN leaders, Malaysians now mourn the "the lost decade of corruption", where the Washington-based financial watchdog Global Financial Integrity (GFI) estimated RM 1,077 billon of illicit money (including corruption money) had been illegally siphoned out of our country from 2000 to 2009.
Therefore, it is no wonder that in the latest Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index, Malaysia dropped to 60th place in 2011 as compared to 37th in 2003 when Tun Abdullah Ahmad first took over as Prime Minister. In contrast, Penang was praised by TI for implementing open tenders.
In light of this, I have proposed 6 integrity measures to overcome the excessive corruption and abuse of power that is now prevalent in our country.
One, there must be a ban on political parties' involvement in business which can only lead to conflict of interest.
Two, the ban on mixing politics with business must be followed by establishing an open tender system to check crony capitalism.
Third, Freedom of Information Act to ensure transparency and also public disclosure of government contracts.
Fourthly, following in the footsteps of Penang, there must be a public declaration of personal assets by public officials holding positions of public trust.
Fifth, there must be full and unconditional implementation of the 125 recommendations proposed by the 2005 Royal Commission on the Enhancement of the Management and Operation of PDRM, especially the formation of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).
Finally, the Elections Commission (EC) must be punished for failure to act or even failure to press for action by the relevant authorities on election bribery, especially failure to comply with the Election Offences Act 1954 imposing election spending limits of RM200,000 for every Parliamentary constituency and RM100,000 for every state constituency.
These are the steps required to ensure integrity, accountability and transparency in the public domain.
Once again, in the spirit of thanksgiving, I would Iike to wish all our Hindu friends a very happy and auspicious Pongal Festival.
—- Mandarin Translation–
槟州首席部长林冠英于2012年1月14日发表庞格尔节(Pongal Festival)献词：
我在此代表槟州政府祝贺我们的兴都徒同胞庞格尔节快乐！
庞格尔节在传统上是农人庆祝丰收的节日。今天，我们与全体努力工作养家活口的人民一起庆祝这个具丰收意义的日子。
对于每天劳劳碌碌、奉公守法的普通老百姓，我们的责任就是提供一个良好施政、问政、透明的政府。因此，槟州政府采取了重要的措施，公开行政议员的财产。
这项公布行政议员财产的措施，是民联领袖履行的个人义务，也证明槟州民联政府立志打造与能干、公信及透明施政方针相一致的廉正领导。
很不幸地，国阵并没有同样的志气。由于国阵领袖的财务丑闻，马来西亚人悼念"因贪污失去的十年"，设在华盛顿的金融观察机构全球金融廉正机构（GFI） 估计，我国的非法外流资金在2000至2009年期间高达1兆7千700亿令吉的黑钱外流（包括贪污钱）。
难怪在最新的国际透明组织（TI)提呈的贪污印象指数及国际竞争指数，马来西亚从前首相敦阿都拉刚执政的2003年排名第37，至降至2011年的第60名。反之，槟州的实施公开招标就获得国际透明组织的赞扬。
有鉴于此，我提议推行六大措施，来解决目前国内猖獗的贪污和滥权问题：
第一、 必须禁止政党从商，这只会造成利益冲突。
第二、 禁止政治与商业挂钩，坚持公开招标制以杜绝裙带资本主义。
第三、 制订自由资讯法，确保透明度，并允许公众检查政府工程合约。
第四、 公职官员必须申报的个人资产，以获得公众信任。
第五、 必须毫无条件的接受和实施皇家委员会于2005年的建议，执行125项建议，尤其是成立投诉警方独立监察和渎职委员会（ IPCMC ）。IPCMC旨在防止警方滥用权力和腐败，无法成立IPCMC显露国阵政府不愿处理公众对警察的负面看法。
最后，选举委员会必须受到惩罚，因为无法对付在选举行贿者，尤其无法遵守《1954年选举犯罪法令》的规定，即限制每个国会选区竞选开销最高20万令吉和每个州议席10万令吉。
这些都是确保公共领域廉正、具公信力及透明度的措施。
再一次，我们怀着感恩的心情，我祝所有兴都徒庞格尔节快乐！
林冠英
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