Guan Eng gets nothing from the PM

The Chief Minister of Penang Lim Guan Eng had met the PM this morning and the meeting is less than cordial.

This is expected since during the March General Election, much has been said by the Opposition about the BN and in particular on its leader Pak Lah. And I would be surprise if Pak Lah embraces Guan Eng on this much publicized meeting. Put it in another way, if the table is turned and Guan Eng is in Pak Lah’ shoes, he would also be less than cordial. Nobody should blame Pak Lah, because he is also human and it is good to display human’s natural behavior.

There is only one important outcome from the meeting, and that is the PM had refused to support the idea of using Petronas money to build Penang’s Second Bridge. It would not be wise for Guan Eng to play up the issue, because there are many way this issue can be read by the people. On one hand, the DAP may want to show that the Federal Government does not want to help the people of Penang, but on the other hand, there may be also people who read it as a confirmation that the State Government of Penang had fail to get the support from the Federal Government and as long as DAP continue to rule Penang, this less than cordial relationship may not be good for the State and the people. It appear that this is a two-sided blade which may cut either way, and the out come may be un-predictable.

So far the New State Government of Penang had play this blame game many times, announcing that they are applying for this and that from the Federal Government even before the application is actually made. The calculation may be that at the end of a period, they can produce a list of things which the State Government had applied and had been denied by the Federal Government, and this may cause the people of Penang to blame the Federal Government. This may or may not work, because sooner or later, some people will start to tell the State Government to “stop blaming others, and start looking into what can the State Government do for the people using your own resources”. And this may happen very soon.

On the issue of open tender, Guan Eng sound apologetic saying that he told Pak Lah, that he is just following the rules and regulations set by the Federal Government. He should not be apologetic about it, because the open tender system is a good practice and it takes away the possibility of corruption and nepotism. And when he said he is just following the rules and regulation of the Federal Government, he seems to have given credit to them. And does it also mean that all that is said about the corrupt practice of the Government in awarding projects are all wrong after all ?