Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and his exco today declared their assets to the public. The details are provided below.
Guan Eng’s FD’s rose by RM54000 since 2008. He also invested a bit more in a couple of mutual funds. His income is derived from exco salaries, exco allowances, Adun allowances, MP allowances, and director’s fees (PBA and PDC).
These disclosures are a step in the right direction but a few questions/proposals for improvement inevitably come to mind:
- The obvious question is, why did it take nearly four years to disclose such simple statements? (It is obvious that one or two of the exco members are fairly wealthy and that could explain the earlier reluctance to disclose their assets.)
- Of course, for the disclosures to be complete, spouses and other immediately family members need to also disclose their assets.
- Cash in ordinary bank accounts (apart from FDs) should also be included, along with other liabilities. And a few exco members have not disclosed the amount in their FD’s as at 8 March 2008.
- In the case of inherited property, some basic information should be disclosed e.g. type of property (e.g. double storey semi-d house), residential area and town OR acreage and location (in the case of agricultural land) to identify them for comparison over time and to distinguish them from other properties the politician might later acquire.
- An independent audit firm should audit such disclosures.
I hope BN leaders at the federal and state levels and leaders of other Pakatan state governments will be inspired by this move to disclose their own and their immediately families’ assets. Well, we can dream (till the cows come home!), can’t we…
No, no, no, we should insist on such disclosures when they come around to canvas our votes in the next general election. No asset disclosure, no vote for you.
Guan Eng also spoke about the need to end the mix of politics and business.
A timely call. Taking this a step further, I think there should also be maximum transparency of corporate donations (in any form) to political parties.
You can download the .pdf file of the asset disclosures of the CM and his exco members.
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Sure, let’s all get distracted … we all need to eat — but not red herrings i hope.
Issue today:
We still want to know the real picture — declaration from spouses and immediate family members plus all the other points as appropriately raised by Anil.
Off-track a Bit… Was in Johor for 2 days. Spoke to Malays, Indians & Chinese there. Found that the good work done in Penang & Selangor by PR is not really reaching the masses. Their only source seem to be MSM & BN lies about these 2 states. They were extremely impressed when I corrected much of the lies by BN and MSM. They did say we must support PR for a better Malaysia, but I could only explain to a small group. We are lucky to also have Bulletin Mutiara get the truth out to the Rakyat in Penang.… Read more »
SamG
I agreed with you. May be Pakatan can think of deploying those credible present MPs in Selangor/Penang to Johor; and let the disciples handle these Pakatan states.
Johor, Sabah & Sarawak are barang naik risky fixed deposits that can be turned into current accounts allowing easy withdrawals of those incumbents who are getting tired of corruptions or have finally awakened from lullaby.
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I can understand the reluctance to go for full disclosure of one’s assets and liabilities especially if one is relatively wealthy. Now who would want potential kidnappers and thieves to know our assets. Unfortunately this is one effective3 way to reduce corruption and abuse of power and I guess it is needed. However, it may discourage those wealthy ones on their own steam from wanting to contest elections and get involved in politics. What say you Anil?
Actually, I think our electoral system may be slightly weighted in favour of candidates who are better off. Think of the high deposits required for contesting and of the amount of expenditure needed to finance a campaign.
Anil, Surely you do not want any Tom, Dick and Harry just to simply contest for the fun of it.
Hi Yang, I feel anyone should be able to contest (if they meet minimum criteria). It is the voters who decide.
Like I have said in other blogs, it is good and fine to disclose assets, as newbies like the DAP, PAS, and PKR have not much fortune to show because fortune takes time to be accumulated. I would be very surprised if any of the State Excos had refused to disclose their assets. On the other hand, it reveals how much they individually have as their personal war chest – just in case they get sued, and how much should the claim be to make them bankrupt, and get kicked out of the political race legally. Mind you, not only… Read more »
The news said that the disclosures are audited by KPMG.
I am not too clear if it is someone from KPMG who volunteered to do it pro bono or if was the firm itself that was hired for the task.
pro bono.
Why are the exact income figures not disclosed? If they are public offices, surely this must be disclosed as well? So, do we have to wait another four years for this or what? Or is this another mental block for our CM Lim Guan Eng? He has lots of mental blocks these days when facing up to “intelligent” Penangites.
Anil, i was sitting with u at d manak shop during perak crisis.glad that u r still providing live coverage for exciting political event.anwar’s verdict day coverage is excellent. Keep it up .c u in perak !
Hi kudakayu! Nice to hear from you again 🙂 Thanks for the kind words. Everyone has to do their little bit.
Penang YB & Ex Co members,
After asset declaration, it’s time to declare where is the venue for next State celebration for Lunar New Year.
I propose offering Penang Street Food to the people of all backgrounds.
Below is another article in NST highlighting Penang Street Food.
Anil’s food critic like tunglang can offer his comments of this Tanjung Tokong food.
http://www.nst.com.my/streets/northern/viva-la-tanjung-tokong-1.31050
The scenario of Penang Street Hawker Food has changed to some degree due in part to the frenzy development taking place in Penang the last 2 years. One is the ‘surreal’ prices of once affordable heavenly hawker food going up despite the fact of Kiam Siap Penangites as the majority customers. I being Kiam Siap Tham Chiak Kui have cut down on food binge / street food crawling for the past few months in silent protest. Here is another of my Penang Memory but of the fast forward surrealist future: ‘Reliving’ Street Hawker Food Memory in Cosmopolitan George Town, 2033… Read more »
Anil
Your blog has lost a lot of ‘Oomps’ since the last comment of Street Food in Penang.
As Penang is now in safe hand of Pakatan and everyone is happy about it, perhaps you can devote more entries to light topics liek Penang Food?
I know tunglang is itching to write more on this.
Okay, Maria… time for a street food intermission soon. 🙂
uncle tunglang
penang street food being commercialised like the recently held competition in Times Square.
Not sure you were there. For just RM5/head my family got to enjoy many wonderful food valur for money. How can you get a bowl (i had 2 ) of Hokkien mee with supersize prawn with RM5 ticket these days ?
The winner is 88 Hokkien Mee now hawkering at Bayan baru. You may want to check it out.
by the way, not sure if Street Food forum at Anil’s blog is active again. We need more “tunglang”s to keep the legacy alive.
Cheers,
Uncle Anil
3rd Pakatan Convention to be hld at SAlor Star on 14/1/12.
Will there be a live feed at your increasingly popular blog ?
Thank you.
So sorry, I won’t be able to be there in Alor Setar as I have a few appointments on that day.
Thanks for following this blog.
So you see, Gherkin, even when LGE has declared his assets, Anil insists on more info. Which is the way to go.
Politicians are servants of the public. So when can we expect some accountability from you saints?
Given their numerous sources of income / allowances, the increase in their assets is surprisingly low. Guess many of them are forking out of their own pockets to fund their political activities like service centres or are they giving massive allwoances to their other halves?
Also some of them don’t seem to be repaying their car loans. An office perk perhaps? Ha ha
Agreed, their spouses and immediate family members should be made to declare their assets too to ensure that funds are not transferred to immediate relatives as a hiding spot. But good on the PR gov for daring to go this far. Time to go the whole distance.